Greenery
by Cyborg0
Summary: Harry Potter has nothing left but to contemplate the emptiness of his universe. Standing over the corpse of his defeated foe he realizes that he has lost already. But something changes, and he discovers there may be more to the universe than he dares hope
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter or Avatar universes, or anything therein that is the author's original work. I do, however, own any unique creations that do not fall into the original universes and that I may claim as my own intellectual property.

Harry Potter looked at the carnage surrounding him with shocked stoicism. The rain was coming down hard now, washing the gently rolling mud hill of its contaminants, the uprooted grass which had been used as knives and needles, swirling around by magically created tornados, now being washed down the muddy slopes into the valleys and creeks. The hill was once grassy, but the constant spellfire, infernos, and transfigurations had taken its toll on the landscape, turning a once ideal setting into a warzone. Now the blades of grass were discarded, left to die after they had been yanked from their roots for a single moment of glory, to cut flesh or block curses or blind the enemy; laying more numerous than the hundreds of human corpses besides. The grass was dead too, little green corpses first used to kill, then to trample upon, then finally used as a deathbed. The rain was coming down hard, cleansing the mud of the grass bodies, and cleansing it of the blood.

Before Harry was a pile of ashes in the shape of a human, like the chalk outline of a New York slums sidewalk, resisting the hard rain's cleansing effort. Voldemort left no body to remember or to bury, just ash, a reminder to Harry of what Voldemort wanted of the world. Complete conquest had been Voldemort's goal, and if he had to reduce the world to flames, then Voldemort would be happy ruling from a throne made of ash.

And that's exactly what he had done. Off in the distance was London, still burning from the Hellfire that his Death Eaters had summoned. Around Harry lay the bodies of his friends– Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the Weasleys– all given to place Harry close to Voldemort, to give him the opportunity to inflict the power that the Dark Lord new not. Who would have guessed that the power that Voldemort knew not was vengeance? Love had not killed Voldemort. Harry did not feel sorrow or compassion as he delivered the fatal blow– not when the bodies of everyone he loved surrounded him. What Harry felt was rage and hate, both of which came together to form the power that Voldemort never expected. He was dead, but he still set the world on fire. He had won after all. Here on this hillcrest Voldemort could see his conquests burning, see Harry's friends dead and gone, and smile upon his victory. Here Voldemort would forever stay, sitting and laughing on his throne of ashes.

Harry's wand had burnt to charcoal as he cast the killing blow. It hadn't been a spell that had killed Voldemort, and the incantation was nothing more than an animalistic scream, but the force was strong enough to destroy Harry's wand and burn his hand. Harry could smell his own flesh burning, and the wand was still too hot. The tip was glowing like a match head, embers still hissing and releasing a trail of smoke against the fat raindrops.

Feeling returned to his hand with sharp intensity and Harry dropped his wand with a cry. At first it stuck stubbornly to his blistered sticky skin, but then it fell down and into the ashes of Voldemort. The ashes roared to life with green flame, identical to those Harry had seen numerous times in the fireplaces throughout the wizarding world. He stepped back in surprise, his eyes widening before he quickly remembered the despair he was supposed be feeling. The amazement faded, and he looked at the corpse-Floo with a new apathy. The green fires raged up before him still strong, and Harry turned from them, his soiled and soaked trainers squelching in the deep mud.

He turned, and saw Hermione's body there next to him. She had been the last to fall, protecting him from the worst of Voldemort's attacks. But she had protected him by taking the attacks herself. Her eyes were open, her face contorted in pain, and her body had been broken. He looked into Hermione's face and stumbled away in fear. She couldn't be dead! They couldn't all be dead! He was alone now, the last one to realize the great nothingness of the universe, and the last one to care about it. The others were beyond caring. Harry fell into the mud, away from Hermione. He kicked his heels, cutting channels into the ground with trainers that filled with rainwater and scooped up goopy mud with his hands. He scuttled backwards like a worm and into the green flames.

The graveyard hillside disappeared in an explosion of grey and red, and Harry knew that he was being taken away by something similar to a Floo or a Portkey, perhaps a mixture of both, but could not bring himself to care. Be it a final trap from Voldemort or a laughable reward from providence, Harry closed his eyes and waited for the journey to end. There were no tears shed, for he had no emotion left to create them. He was consumed by an apathy and emptiness so vast that the closed his eyes, unwilling to expend the effort to identify and interpret the hue of the colors that raged around him. Harry had done his job, and there was nothing left to do but wait until he too didn't care about how empty the universe really was.

The journey lasted longer than Harry had expected.


	2. Spacejump

Sitting in the nothingness gave one a lot of time to think, and Harry Potter was good at thinking. The night of Voldemort's defeat had been long ago, but Harry was unable to remember exactly how long. He had been traveling for a long time.

"It's been a long time," Harry said. During the beginning of his journey Harry hadn't cared that he was stuck in eternal Portkey-Floo travel, for the death of his loved ones had dulled all sense of self-preservation, but before long he began to wonder what was wrong. That wondering had come a few hours after his journey had started, when Harry could still be certain with the amount of time that had passed. That was when he still knew approximately how long an hour was, when the time-value of an hour mattered for reasons of scheduling and curiosity. During the beginning of his journey Harry had a starting point with which to begin the counting of an hour, and so he could approximate the amount of time that had been as he hurled forward in the grey and orange sky. He had lost the ability to count the time after seventy-two hours.

And so when counting became impossible Harry began to think. At first he thought about his dead world, the fires of war that had consumed the wizarding world, driving magical society to extinction. Harry wasn't sure that there was enough magical blood left to meet the biological requirements to determine that a child was would be a wizard. The purebloods had it wrong about their superiority, but with the exception of muggle born, there had to be a certain amount to ensure that the line would continue to make witches and wizards reliably. But even if there were enough on the genetic side, the knowledge would be gone anyways. Almost all able witches and wizards eventually were pulled into the war, and the older and younger ones who weren't able to fight were targets of terrorism. The magical schools of the world were some of the first to be hit, of course. So even if there was enough blood to rebuild the population that had once been the magical world, there was not enough knowledge left to actually teach the children anything useful. Voldemort had dug underneath the foundations and gnawed them away, and his appetite had been insatiable.

But soon during his journey Harry's thoughts turned away from the dead, or soon-to-be-dead, world and to the more practical aspects of his predicament. He had lost count of the hours in the color swirl, but knew it had been at least three days. He was not hungry, or thirsty, and only breathed out of habit. It was true that he could no longer measure the span of an hour, but knew that he should have been required to perform some form of upkeep of his body. But he hadn't.

All these wonderings had happened a _long time_ before. And now Harry contented himself to mind games and word puzzles. Three times now Harry had believed that he had come close to understanding the meaning of infinity, but inevitably found he had to stop due to mental exhaustion. Other times Harry tried to count off one second reliably for sixty seconds to attempt to re-establish a timeframe for himself to reference, but could not. Some counts he believed were close to what he knew a second should be, but other counts he was sure were too short, and others too long. Sometimes he even forgot to count for fifteen or twenty counts, which he thought was about fifteen or twenty seconds but couldn't be sure, and then he had to start over again.

He had come to the decision of making a color/rhyme poem after composing nineteen other poems and realized he could only compose one more. The reason he could only compose one more was because he only had ten fingers and ten toes, which he knew after intense and lengthy thought added to twenty. Trying to remember something that he could not assign to one of his twenty digits was impossible, so he wanted his last poem to be his greatest masterpiece. Rhyming and colors were a great combination, or so he thought. Almost as troubling as his failed attempts at comprehending infinity or his inability to keep track of a few count-seconds was his failure to find words that rhymed with 'orange' or 'purple' so that he could complete his poem. At first he thought that 'silver' was also among the group of unrhymable words, but after a _long time _decided that 'pilfer' was an acceptable rhyme. So he had some success and some failure, but what he had most was time. And there was a _lot_ of it.

And so he passed the _long time_ with thought, and Harry believed it to be an acceptable situation for him. Soon his before-life faded into the background and he rarely thought of it. The time between the moments he thought of his before-life could only be quantified as a _long time_ and so as Harry thought of it now a smile bloomed on his face.

"It's been a long time," Harry said. With a startling sense of déjà vu Harry looked around for some significant object that he had seen before. There were orange and grey swirls, and Harry figured that must have been the cause. He had seen those swirls before. But then he realized that his déjà vu may actually have been caused by what he said, instead. And wondered if perhaps he had said that before in the distant past, or if this was actually the first time he said the phrase and the rest was just wishful thinking. Whatever the cause, that weird feeling in his head and in his stomach woke him up more so than he had been awake in a long time.

"It _has_ been a long time!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes it has," a voice replied. Deep rumbling and intense heat surrounded Harry, and the orange and grey swirling turned furious. Wind began rushing past him, and suddenly direction was re-established for the first time in a _long time_. Harry turned his face forward.

He was falling. Far down below him was a planet; so far that he could see the blue of the atmosphere end and the vastness of space begin on all sides. The starry sky was filled with tens of thousands of stars - too many, he knew from his astronomy classes. Off in the distance of space was a large planet that looked to be a gas giant. The giant was distant, but also very close. Harry knew he was not falling towards Earth. The planet (moon he corrected himself) was one of two colors, green, or blue, and most of the planet was covered in jungle. Looking behind himself, Harry was shocked at a trail of liquid fire that extended back towards a brightly burning sun. The jungle moon loomed closer, and the rush of wind increased as he entered the atmosphere fully. A fireball formed around Harry, but he was not in trouble beyond a comfortable warmth. The magic of his travel seemed to still be protecting him. If someone or something had gone through the trouble of taking Harry all the way here then he was confident that they wouldn't let him die from something like a simple fall.

So Harry waited and studied the moon below him attentively, memorizing the shape of the smaller, more numerous continents, the blue oceans that looked more like one network of giant river passages, and the small areas on the moon that were not consumed by the mega-jungle. The atmosphere was thick now, and Harry could begin to make out details that he had not seen before. It was just beginning to dawn, or perhaps the day was ending, because some of the jungle that he faced was encased in the shadow of night, but it was jungle that had a glow of its own. The night was pushed off slightly by a source less, multicolored glow that Harry could not comprehend. It was colorful, but no colors popped out to him, a rainbow of color with no distinction. Suddenly mountain grew in the distance, disguised from above by the numerous plants growing atop them. Harry's mouth dropped open as he realized that they were not actually mountains per se, but rather monstrous floating constructions of rocks, held together by massive root systems and held aloft by nothing at all. He would have to explore them more closely.

The ground grew closer, and Harry grew more apprehensive, amazement at the floating mountains replaced by a sharp, tangy fear. What if he was wrong about the magic used to send him from Earth to this moon protecting his landing? Sitting in that timelessness waiting for an indefinable eternity would mean nothing, and Harry wouldn't stand for that.

"Arresto Momentum!" he shouted, holding his hands out in front of him, hoping against hope that the spell would answer him without his want to help him. The treetops flashed past Harry, faster and more intense than the gradual fall he had experienced for half an hour. He shouted the spell again. Nothing happened. A huge branch came up to Harry and smashed him in the gut. Wooden splinters shot out from the tree trunk as Harry blasted through it, slicing two feet of torso from the strong wood, and to his left the branch collapsed with him, plummeting to the ground. He smashed through three more branches and countless other vines and twigs, screaming each time, fearing that the spell would wear out before he struck the ground, leaving nothing but a splatter of Harry blood and clothes that were still caked with dried mud.

The ground came up fast and Harry impacted. The mossy ground gave way to Harry's velocity and the fearful sound of a detonated bomb filled the jungle. The wind left Harry's lungs from the impact, and he struggled to get off from his stomach as the dirt, moss, and splinters rained down upon him. He pushed up to his knees, gasping and wheezing and begging for the oxygen to return to him as the huge branch that he had first hit smashed into the ground beside him with a crash that was dwarfed from the deep, roaring echoes of Harry's arrival.

Harry sat down on his butt and let his breath return to him. The air around him was clearing of debris rapidly, and Harry could see the red glow of the bubble that had protected him throughout his journey. Looking up, he saw the trail of fire that he had made, a lazy arch of brilliant red flame that stretched from his location, all the way into space and spanning the gap between the moon and the distant sun - a trail of fire that he had stolen from the fusing star and scattered for millions and millions of miles. His mouth split apart in awe.

"Pesu'pxe nga?" Harry turned around at the strange words, spinning to his feet as fast as he could. There, behind him, were figures of creatures close to ten feet tall, blue, with ribbons of darker royal circling their almost-naked bodies. Their hair was black, ears pointed and ridged like a cross between a cat and bat, and each with a braid of hair down to the middle of their backs. They were very slender, but also muscular, with bowed lips and flat, wide noses. Harry let out a curse and stumbled back, falling again on his butt, and some of the huge blue figures laughed at his fright. One creature stood out in front, a large male with intelligent, knowing eyes. Harry assumed he was the leader, for not only was there intelligence in the eyes, but also some sort of understanding, and even fear. "Who are you?" the leader asked, and Harry's surprise reached a new level. He was on an alien planet, speaking to aliens, and they knew English. It wasn't possible.

Before Harry could work up a reply the bubble that was protecting him disappeared with a snap, and a roiling, hot atmosphere hit Harry's senses. His first breath of the native air set his lungs on fire and he pitched to his hands and knees, expelling the alien air as best he could. He could not hold it out for long, though, and his body forced him to take another painful breath. Through his suffering Harry's mind cried out in rage and anger. He did not wait for infinity to be suffocated on an alien planet! He did not delay the reunion with his loved ones to die now. He had waited! He had discovered something new and amazing, and it would not end here!

Harry pounded the crater with his fist and the deep brown dirt before his eyes took on a pinkish hue. Harry's next breath was clean and he pulled in sweet, nourishing air in long and deep pulls, expelling the toxic fumes from his lungs. He looked up at the aliens through his bubblehead charm and saw they were not laughing anymore. Whether it was from the shock at seeing him almost suffocate or shock from seeing him still alive, Harry didn't know. Harry stood up, slightly shaking from the residual pain in his nose and throat, and decided to answer the leader's question as if nothing had happened. "I am Harry Potter. Who are _you?" _


	3. Transient

Harry waited for a reply from the leader, hoping that one of the others did not decide to jab a spear into him or let loose one of their three-foot arrows in the meantime. He studied each of the people's yellow eyes in turn, noticing that each of them recognized Harry's form. They were familiar with humans. Their stares were not directed at Harry's figure, but rather at the mode of his arrival, the trail of fire that lead into space, and the crater in which Harry still stood. Harry didn't blame them. He was pretty sure that if he were over there with them, he would be staring too.

"Jake!" a female voice cried, pushing through the thick, strange vegetation. A female of the same race as the group confronting him now came into sight and moved to quickly stand beside the leader, who had still not answered Harry. The leader was named Jake? The female turned her questioning glance from the leader, Jake, and towards Harry. Her eyes looked skyward towards the trail of fire, and then down around at the crater, the splintered wood, and then back to Harry. She turned to Jake and said something in their language. It sounded like a question to Harry. Jake just shrugged in reply.

Harry was about to say something else when a boom interrupted him. Looking skyward, he saw a fireball raining down from the sky. With a curse, Harry clambered out of his crater and yelled at the blue people to get back. Jake translated his order and the group moved away from the crater. They ran fast and gracefully, easily outpacing Harry as they took cover behind trees and rocks. Harry dove over a fallen tree trunk just as another detonated bomb rocked the jungle. Debris flew over the top of the downed tree Harry was lying behind, wood chips tinking off of his glasses like small ricochets.

After the fragments of wood and clods of dirt settled Harry peaked over his tree bunker to see a wooden chest sitting in the now deeper crater. Harry climbed carefully over and stared at the trunk, at the crater, and then up to the sky at the second trail of fire. He was right. He would stare. "That _is_ pretty shocking, isn't it?" Harry said aloud, and then realized that the silent Jake was now standing beside him.

Jake turned his head away from the trunk and down at Harry, who immediately felt like a little kid. "What is that?" His voice was deep and commanding, toned from years of leadership. Dumbledore could sound the same way when he needed to.

"It's a trunk," Harry said, "Probably mine." Hopefully it would have some of Harry's possessions inside.

"A trunk," Jake said. "You traveled all the way here from Earth and somehow dropped out of your ISV without any equipment except for a rebreather, in the middle of the jungle, and remembered to bring your _trunk_?"

They were all looking at Harry again. Harry noticed that one corner of his trunk was smoldering slightly. "I didn't bring the trunk," Harry said. "I suppose someone remembered to send it along after me. And I don't know what an ISV is, but I came here from Earth directly without any equipment. What's a rebreather?"

Jake looked incredulous, and Harry couldn't blame him. He didn't quite have a grasp on what had happened either. He consulted the female, who Harry guessed was his wife, and then turned back to Harry, "Open the trunk, but don't touch anything inside. I want to see what is in it."

Harry obliged. He was also curious of the trunk's contents, since his memory of his before-life was completely devoid of details like what he had last packed in his school trunk. Harry unlatched the hinge, opened the top, and stepped back for Jake to take a look. Off from the side he could see school robes, both clean and dirty, books, parchment, potions supplies, and, best of all, his Firebolt and invisibility cloak. "Wicked!" he shouted as Jake pulled the last two items out.

"What is all this?" Jake asked. He seemed genuinely confused about what he found inside Harry's trunk, and turned a questioning look towards Harry. For the first time it was not hostile or cautious, but baffled.

"That's my old school stuff," Harry replied. "Do you mind if I have the broomstick and that cloak? They're rather valuable."

Jake handed Harry his Firebolt and cloak. "You are not employed by RDA."

"Who?"

The female spoke up then, "You are not here to retake our planet? You are not part of the company who tried to destroy the Na'vi?"

"No way!" Harry said, appalled. "I just met you guys. Why would I want to do anything like that?"

"Neytiri?" Jake said.

The female, Neytiri, shook her head. "He is barely out of childhood," she said. "I believe him." Harry let out a sigh. It looked like he wasn't going to get impaled after all. "But we still do not know why he is here."

Jake nodded his agreement. To Harry, he said, "We're going to take you to the avatar compound where the other humans are. They can help you set up there. It's a few hours from here, so I suggest you take out of that trunk what you want and leave the rest." Jake delegated two other Na'vi to help Harry, who chose to take all the books and most of his clean clothes, leaving the parchment and potions ingredients. School was out forever, and if he didn't have to write another essay it wouldn't be soon enough. He still hated them, even after all the years (he thought they were years) sitting in the color swirl in his journey from Earth.

The small band set out, Harry, Jake, Neytiri, the two Na'vi carrying his books and folded clothes effortlessly, and a few others. "How did you come here?" Neytiri asked Harry. Her accent was thick and she used simple English, unlike Jake who Harry was pretty sure was just as fluent as himself.

Harry decided to be completely honest. A new start with no secrets, and no lies was more than he could have wished. He wouldn't squander it. "Magic," he said simply.

Neytiri turned to Jake for an explanation, obviously not understanding what the word meant. Jake, for his part, haltingly explained the concept, looking at Harry with new concern. Concern for his people or for Harry, he wasn't sure. After he finished his explanation, Jake said, "Magic doesn't exist."

Harry expected that. "In that case then I honestly don't know. I believe it to be magic. How else did I survive all this way without any machinery helping me? How did I even survive the fall from space? How did my trunk, for that matter? I can't give you a better explanation then magic."

"The doctor will take a look at you when we get to Hell's Gate. I would suggest that you keep that to yourself if you don't want to be under constant observation." Harry nodded. Perhaps it was better to keep his revelations about magic to himself and write off things like his arrival and his bubblehead charm to ignorance. Besides, he didn't even have a wand anymore, and even though he hoped that his salvaged books may help him in that regard, he couldn't be sure.

Neytiri, unwilling to be hindered, had another question for Harry. "Why are you here?"

"For that," Harry replied, "I have no explanation. Coming here wasn't my choice. I just knew that there was nothing left for me back on Earth."

"Is it that bad, now?" Jake asked.

"For most people it is just the same as it's always been, but for me… I had no one else."

"What about the environment?" Jake asked, "How is the world reacting to the Unobtainium shortage?"

"The what?" Harry said. Then a small, previously unrecognized worry crept up in his mind. "What year is it?"

"Last time I checked with Norm, it has been eighteen years since the RDA left Pandora."

"But what _year_?" Harry asked, panicked.

Jake quickly did the math, "2172."

Harry stopped walking with the Na'vi, staring straight ahead. "I've been traveling for 180 years."

*

They arrived at Hell's Gate with a minimum of conversation, and Jake and Neytiri went ahead to speak to the other humans. Harry didn't care. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything he had learned. He had been in the nothingness for close to two centuries, in a conscious stasis, with nothing to do but ponder himself into oblivion. At first he thought Pandora had been a gift, from some unknown source, but now he was unsure. What was his purpose here? The Na'vi seemed to be doing well for themselves, surviving first contact with a superior species and succeeding in ejecting them from Pandora, so what was Harry supposed to do? Was this his paradise? To be left alone on a planet where he had no place to stay? How was that better than the muddy hillside that was Voldemort's throne room?

Harry looked around the compound called Hell's Gate, and his fears were confirmed. This was not home– this was an on-planet exile. The people who lived here were intruders upon the jungle, and had to maintain the unnatural cement structures, fences, and even defense towers in order to stay alive. They were not part of the planet, but rather a blight that had carved out an impenetrable niche. Hell's Gate was a deceiving name, for it was not the entryway to hell on Pandora, it was hell itself, surrounded by beauty. The ones who named the compound were blind to the value of the nature around them, and they huddled in the festering sore that Pandora wished to eradicate.

Jake and Neytiri believed him to be crazy for believing in the role magic played in his journey to Pandora. To them it was much easier to accept that he had knocked his head, forgetting that it was some technology unknown to them that had brought him down safely. He didn't blame them. Their language didn't even have a word for magic, so why should they bother even believing?

The humans were coming over, lead by the Na'vi leader and his mate, and Harry realized they wouldn't be any better. They were scientists; people who knew of technology two centuries beyond Harry's understanding, who comprehended machines they could send them from one star to another through the blankness of space. They would think he was crazy as well, but they had the power to make his new life here even worse than it was already turning out to be.

The man introduced himself as Norm, shaking Harry's hand and marveling at his "new rebreather design." The Na'vi left after handing off Harry's possessions to the scientists and having a few more words with Norm.

"Stay safe," said Jake before walking back into the jungle with his group. Neytiri and the others said nothing.

"So," Norm said, patting Harry on the back, "Let's get inside and find you a place to stay. All the other stuff can wait until after you're settled."

Harry nodded his acceptance and moved towards the airlock of the main building, his mind racing across the possibilities of escaping Hell as quickly as he could.


	4. Hello, World!

"His rebreather is built out of some sort of force field!" Norm exclaimed for the fourth time.

After the airlock had shut, Norm attempted to remove Harry's bubblehead charm by grasping at the pink glow surrounding Harry's head, was let out a surprised "What the!" as his hands passed right through and onto Harry's cheeks. Then he exclaimed, "Your rebreather is a force field! I didn't even know they had made prototypes yet, let alone personal units!" That was number one.

The airlock hissed and Norm gave a camera in the corner a thumbs up and a smile, and the hatch on front of them opened automatically, twisting like watertight doors in a submarine that Harry had seen in the movies. The door opened and a red warning light spun above it, letting the two know that the door right in front of them had begun opening. There, Harry was introduced to a round, bearded, and glassesed man named Max Patel.

"Touch his rebreather!" Norm said. Max tried, and ended up poking Harry in the nose. "It's a force field!" he exclaimed. That was number two.

They were walking through the joined kitchen and common room and Harry was introduced to other human scientists. Apparently the only ones that the Na'vi allowed to stay were the ones involved with the Avatar program. All mines, all administrative staff, and all marines were sent off world immediately. There were also children on the compound, ranging from about seventeen years old right down to toddlers. The scientist adults had certainly been busy. One girl of seventeen ran right up to Harry and stuck her hand out for a shake saying, "Name's Celia Spellman!" Her gung-ho attitude and invasion of personal space sent Harry back, hitting his head on a pan hanging from cabinets above a kitchen island separating the common area from the cooking area.

"Careful!" Norm said, putting his arm around his daughter, "Your rebreather is only a force field!" Harry rubbed the back of his head and thanked Norm for the reminder. That was number three.

Norm opened the door to an empty bedroom. They had moved past the kitchens and into the administrative area, where everyone had set up quarters in the most luxurious rooms available in Hell's Gate. Norm dropped Harry's clothes and books upon the table, went to the door, and said, "Welcome, Harry. Get some sleep tonight and we'll see you at 0800 for breakfast. We've got a lot to talk about. As he shut the door, Harry heard him mutter to himself, "Man, his rebreather is built out of some sort of force field!" Number four.

Harry's room, while among the best that Hell's Gate had to offer, was still uncomfortably cramped. Obviously the room was originally for minor administrative staff, if the bunk bed on the north wall was any indication. The mattresses were clean, though, and thick, and the pillows and blankets were soft. Next to the bed was a rectangular metal table with a datapad in its charging dock, an empty mug, and a lamp. On the south side, opposite the bunk beds, was a desk and chair. A flexible lamp was on the desk as well, and a good, old fashioned, pen and notebook waited, ready for writing. Harry propped up his Firebolt in the southwestern corner of the room, in between the desk and bedside table, and flipped through the notebook. It was blank.

Harry began sorting through his books, about fifteen in all, and hoped to find some useful information inside. The first book he picked up was the _Standard Book of Spells, Year Seven_. Very useful. Harry hadn't been halfway through his seventh year and some of the spells he had seen in the book were very useful. Being the last book of the series, it contained an overview of various advanced schools of magic not covered by Hogwarts education such as mind magic (which Harry already knew if the form of Occlumency). It also had basic Legimency techniques, which he would find absolutely dead useful here. He doubted the scientists had any form of control over their thoughts, not with all of their facts and figures constantly jumbling around.

Next was _Moste Potente Potions_. Harry flipped through it, wincing as the gruesome pictures reminded him of his final experiences of his before-life, and was about to write it off when he found a section on wand making. Apparently wand making fell into the category of alchemy, and six hundred (eight hundred, Harry corrected himself) years ago alchemy was a part of potions before Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel revolutionized the subject. Harry wondered at where he might find some experimental cores to attempt to make himself a new wand.

Next was a copy of _Mastering Transfiguration_, inside Harry found detailed instructions for permanent conjuration and transfiguration, and smaller subsections about permanent self-transformation, namely Animagus and Metamorphmagus abilities. The book did not detail how to succeed in either of the fields, but did reference guides, one for each ability, if the student wished to attempt the transformations after their Hogwarts graduations.

The next two books Harry picked up were those two tomes. He remembered that Hermione had checked them out of the restricted section just the week before she was killed on the hillside, her eyes shining with the anticipation of trying to learn from them. "All to fight V-v-voldemort, of course!" she had said defensively. Harry smiled at the memory. After all this time, he still missed them dearly. The journey from Earth to Pandora had dulled his pain to a murmur, but he still loved his friends.

The next was the planner that Hermione had given him for Christmas. Harry opened it and wasn't surprised to hear nothing come out of it. 180 years would do that to any enchantment that wasn't permanent.

Most of the other books were useless to Harry now. Defense Against the Dark Arts tomes, books of offensive and defensive magic - Harry flipped through them and realized he still knew almost every spell. He put them in their own stack and mentally lMaxled it "Useless."

Last was a small leather-bound book, barely larger than flat of his hand. It looked like a pocket Bible, cracked and worn and greatly used with pages thinner than an old woman's wispy white hair. It was titled _The Olde Arte_, and Harry was sure he had never seen it before. He flipped to the first chapter and almost dropped the book in excitement. Memories rushed back to him of Snape's departure from the castle the night of Dumbledore's death, how he jumped from the window and glided down to the ground. He remembered Voldemort's attempts to capture Harry during the summer before his seventh year, how he flew through the air as his Death Eaters rode broomsticks besides. Flying required no wand. "Wicked… absolutely wicked!"

*

Night fell on Pandora and Harry hopped down from his perch on the top bunk. Above the bed was a viewing window that showed off the night sky and tops of the strange, broad-leaved trees of Pandora. He had been awake since morning, but he was not tired. Two centuries of unbroken consciousness would do that to a person, and Harry had waited long enough. He put on his invisibility cloak and took his Firebolt from the corner. Easing the door open, he went to the airlock, retracing his steps through the narrow hallways, the kitchen with the hanging pots, and finally to the door with its rotating red light.

Harry kicked off the ground immediately once he was through the airlock. The Pandorian atmosphere was thick and cool, heavy with water, but not cold enough to cause goose bumps or shivers. Harry inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet, new smells of Pandora. Magic was a wonderful thing, Harry thought as he drifted above intensely glowing spiral ferns, hidden below the canopies in clumps of hundreds. The bubblehead charm ensured that Harry had breathable air, and it filtered any toxins, but the intense smells of nectar coming from the ferns were unhindered by the pink sphere.

Harry's toe brushed against the top of one of the spiral ferns and it retracted into its base with a hollow thwump! To Harry's delight each fern in turn copied the first, retracting to their protective sheathes in an ever-growing spiral with Harry at the epicenter. The air became a haze of glowing dust motes as the ferns released a bioluminescent powder, probably meant to confused predators, and suddenly Harry was floating in the deep ocean, thousands of glowing krill and shrimp surrounding him. He laughed aloud. Pandora was amazing!

A rustling in the nearby fanbrushes (at least, that's the name Harry had for the broad-leaved, giant bird of paradises that hung down from the trunks of the trees) startled Harry out of his admiration. A lone direhorse wandered into the clearing, weaving its way in between the closed spiral ferns. Harry stayed in place, drifting soundlessly, wondering if the Na'vi mounts were as tame as Norm claimed them to be. Harry was silent and still, but the direhorse lifted its head to sniff the sparking air. Its head swiveled towards the invisible Harry and it ran off, six legs pounding the pounding the ground softly. Harry decided that an animal whose first instinct to run was probably harmless.

Harry moved up, away from the ground alight with purple and blue and white glows, the mixing bioluminescence that almost every plant an animal on Pandora boasted, and never allowed the night to be truly dark. He drifted away from the light, the comforting glow, and broke the canopy into the clear night air. Polyphemus, the name of the gas giant around which Pandora circled, was still half-lit by the sun like a beautiful, iridescent moon. Harry scoffed at his naïve gazing at the moon of Earth- the dead, pockmarked hunk of rock that had long since died and tide locked to the planet. The moon of Earth had been circling for so long, trapped in its lifelessness, that its rotation had stopped, finally succumbed to the alluring pull of Earth. Only one side ever faced the earth, unchanging. It was a mask of death like the Egyptians used, a gilded face made of metal; beautiful, but ultimately dead. A reflection of what Earth had been heading towards- what it had become 180 years later.

Ultimately, Harry had failed Earth. He had left, unable to comprehend or cope with his loss, left the poor, shortsighted muggles to invent their own doom. The citizens of Earth had invented starvation, crafted pollution, and incubated destruction in a beaker. Harry knew that the wizarding world, before its annihilation, seemed by many muggle born and families of muggle born to be backwards, archaic, and obsolete, but Harry always wondered if wizards had it correct over muggles. Wizards had an increased appreciation for nature, and for simple life. It was a common anecdote to cite the biggest school of magic to be charms- the simple spells always brought about the purest joy. To make something fly was the single thing that most wizards cited to be most enjoyable of magic.

Harry knew the Na'vi had similar ideas. Harry was learning very quickly that, after the arrival of humans, the Na'vi fought for their simple joy with a ferocious intensity, and still did. Looking at the stars, at the radiant Polyphemus, and at the dawn-colored glow breaking through the treetop canopy from the jungle below, Harry knew that Pandora was his home.

And he would do anything to protect it.

Author's Notes:

In response to a review, I have tried to increase the amount of description and detail in this chapter. I'm also in search of a beta willing to find grammar/spelling mistakes, as these chapters are being pumped out and published on same day.


	5. Lying Truthfully

During the night Harry found that sleep wouldn't come to him. He laid in bed for hours, starting at the ceiling window, but his mind was blurry with activity. At around midnight he gave up trying and grabbed the datapad from his bedside table. He would have to think up an explanation for how he had arrived that would suit the other occupants in Hell's Gate, and, "It's magic!" wouldn't work. Besides, Harry wanted to be left alone to discover his new home rather than be pestered about something that wasn't really explainable in the first place. So he spent till dawn, scouring the datapad for information about Pandora, about scientific advancement, about the RDA, and about the history of the world since he had gone into the nothingness. It wasn't really that hard to grasp, he decided when dawn had finally come. The world was still the same hippogriff with a new coat of feathers.

During the night, and every night to come as Harry discovered that sleep would elude him, he spent some of his time searching through his datapad. At first he looked up the words that his new hosts and the Na'vi had been throwing around. "RDA," "Unobtanium," but then he began a search into general scientific advancements. In physics, quantum theory was a quickly growing field, and was mentioned in the article about interstellar flight as the single most important scientific advancement that enabled travel to a place as distant as Pandora. Harry navigated to an introductory article about quantum physics. Slowly, a story for Harry's arrival started to form.

*

Harry arrived at the breakfast table at eight o'clock exactly and was unsurprised to see every resident of Hell's Gate waiting there for him, about fifty in all. The children where there as well. Celia Spellman was the oldest, apparently, the first human to ever be born on Pandora, and three other younger children stood (or was being held, in the toddler's case) next to her. Norm was at the table with the other key members of the compound including his wife, Roxanne, and Max. There was one open chair, and Norm patted the back of it. His wedding ring made a 'ting!' against the all-metal construction with each pat.

"Sleep well?" Norm asked.

"Yeah, I did. Pandora has an amazing night sky," Harry replied, thinking of his float above the jungle canopy. The light had been pouring up from the cracks in the trees, like an aurora borealis coming up through leathery green ice.

"I figured you'd like the glass ceiling," Norm said, smiling. "So, let's get down to it. Jake didn't really tell me much about your arrival, and he said you were less than forthcoming about why you are here. He says that both he and Neytiri trust you, though, so don't worry about this being an interrogation or anything."

"With the crowds it sort of feels like it," Harry said. They were pressing around the table to catch every word.

"We're desperate for news," Max said. If I wasn't sitting down I'd be breathing down your neck.

Harry nodded. He understood what it was like to wait. "Unfortunately I'm going to have to disappoint you." Harry took a deep breath and hoped his surface level skimming of his datapad would make him sound smart enough to fool the scientists, "I'm the test pilot for an experimental interstellar flight technique called superconductor bouncing." He looked at Norm and Max, gauging their reactions. Norm sat back in his chair, blinking. Max had his mouth open slightly, his beard covering his lips so it looked like the mossy entrance to a cave. Harry smiled small, so they wouldn't notice; complete sci-fi to them. "Basically it works like this. Unobtanium is a superconductive material at room temperature, yes?" They nodded. "And as you know, before Unobtanium, we knew any metal is able to work like a superconductor if chilled to near absolute zero." Nods again. "Well RDA wanted to find out what happened when they chilled Unobtanium to near absolute zero, or heated it to some extreme temperature. The cooling did nothing, but when they heated it to a few thousand degrees Celsius, something really crazy happened. They heated it up and found that it began to act as a superconductor for actual matter itself, we're talking protons, neutrons, molecules, and even cellular tissues."

The room was dead silent. The scientists in the room were mostly biologists of some sort, and he hoped that none had extensive education in the schools of quantum physics. Apparently they didn't, because no technical questions came about. "How does it work, exactly?" Max asked.

"RDA sacrificed one of its remaining satellites that orbits over Pandora to plant a gram of Unobtanium inside the core of Alpha Centauri A. Then they designed a ship capable of reaching the core of Earth's sun and surrounded the entire thing with a really thin sheet of Unobtanium, exactly the same amount of material that they knew to be roasting inside of Alpha Centauri A. What happens when they do that is the two separate grams of Unobtanium act like a subatomic particle known as a quark, and they become linked particles, where they are essentially the same piece of matter that occupy two different points in space. I was surrounded by the first bit of it, and remember what I told you about how it would act like a matter superconductor?"

"You're saying we've found a way to travel anywhere instantaneously," Norm said breathlessly.

"Superconducted matter can travel with zero friction, and the first place the Unobtanium wants to send it is to the linked brother Unobtanium, nestled in the center of your sun."

"That's what the trail of fire was!" Celia Spellman exclaimed!

Harry smiled, happy his lie accounted for everything that he could think of. "It was plasma, actually, but close enough."

Celia seemed a bit confused though. "But what was the second boom, then? I heard two." Leave it to a teenager to catch what Harry hoped the scientists would miss.

"Did they send two people over?" Norm asked with concern. "Who was it?"

Harry shook his head, thinking fast. "No, they didn't send two people over. Something went wrong with the transport and my craft broke apart. I bet the second boom was the tail end of it."

"And what's to stop them from sending a fleet of marines here that way?" someone from the crowd asked. Murmurs began to rise.

"They can't send more because they don't know if the amount of Unobtanium in your sun is still the same amount. In the tests they found that the Unobtanium eventually burned up, but the rates at which it happened were never the same. The Unobtanium in the center of your sun was put in at the exact same time as I went into mine, but they will have to repeat the entire process again to send someone else through. They don't have another satellite to do that." Harry was very proud of his explanation.

Norm rubbed his chin in thought. "That sounds like an amazing invention, something else that could really save humankind. But I don't get one thing… why did they send you?"

Harry gave him a sad smile. That question would get a response that was mostly true. "The details of the experiment were leaked, and no one would volunteer. I was the first one they found who didn't really care."

No one responded to that, knowing that Harry hinted at something highly personal. He was still a stranger to them, and they knew that asking would be overstepping their bounds. So, Norm moved gracefully to another subject. "Your rebreather is a force field! Can you show me the device that powers it?"

Harry smirked, "Sorry. It's a prototype . He showed them the scarring on his hand. It's definitely a prototype, implanted in my wrist, and uses an experimental Unobtanium power generator that runs off of my nervous system. I have no idea about how, exactly, just how to turn it on and off." The truth was Harry had left his bubblehead charm on since the night before, fearing that if he dispelled the charm he wouldn't be able to cast it again. He had no experience with wandless magic, barring accidents, that is.

Eventually they let Harry go, asking him simple questions about himself that he answered truthfully. The residents avoided any questions about his past, fearing it would bring out the sadness they had glimpsed earlier. He ran back to his room, grabbed his broomstick, wrapped it in his cloak to disguise both, and ran to the airlock. He had been warned quite harshly by Norm not to enter the boundaries of the jungle, and Harry had readily agreed, so he made sure he was out of sight before delving into the exotic plants.

Harry wrapped himself in his cloak, fastened the strings tightly around his neck, and took to the sky, toward what he was told were named the Hallelujah Mountains - the giant floating monoliths he had seen on his way in. But a few minutes into his journey he saw a building down below, human construction, nestled in the jungle. Curious, Harry spiraled down slowly to see what it housed. Before he landed he could hear the laughter of children coming from the building, which he realized was nothing more than a wooden decking, raised off the jungle floor and covered by wavy sheet metal. He sunk below the roofing, silent and invisible on his broom, and saw Na'vi children, overlooked by two female Na'vi adults, one in khaki and one dressed natively. The children were just naked, to Harry's amusement.

The Na'vi in khaki was sitting on a Na'vi sized chair, holding a large book, turned outward toward the sitting children, in her hand. Harry suddenly noticed the khaki Na'vi had five fingers on each hand. He looked at the children, who all had four fingers. Intrigued, Harry carefully guided his Firebolt under the roof to get a closer look at Khaki.

"The letter 'N'," Khaki said, pointing to a big, glossy blue 'N' in her picture book, "is for Na'vi. The people! That's all of you." Khaki took a datapad and scribbled on it, her writing appearing on what seemed to be a high-tech whiteboard behind her. It read 'Na'vi.'

This place was a school! The Na'vi children were being taught English, but why was Khaki acting like she was? Why was she acting so human?

"Oomph!" Harry said as something bumped hard into his left side. He lost his balance and toppled over the side of his Firebolt, unable to right himself in such an enclosed space. His legs unwrapped from the stirrups and he landed flat on his back on the long wooden table in the center of the room, on top of the finger paint drawing the children had just finished.

"Tswayon vrrtep!" shouted the native Na'vi female as she saw Harry's broom turn visible, still hovering at her chest height. She snatched it out of the air as Harry scrambled noisily off the table, scattering plastic tins of finger paint and large pages full of red, green, and blue four-fingered handprints in every direction. The paint splattered from the tins as they struck he benches and the wooden floor, hitting many of the Na'vi children with multi-colored polka-dots. Harry landed on his feet noisily just as the children began to move, laughing and screaming in delight from their newly kaleidoscopic bodies. Harry realized that the children were just as tall as he was, and already much stronger.

Harry jumped down from the raised platform and onto the ground just as a voice he recognized as Khaki's shouted, "Look!"

Harry turned his head over his shoulder to look as he ran, his mind panicking but already thinking about how to get his Firebolt back without being caught. He could see the two adults looking at colorful footprints- his footprints- leading off the platform and straight to him. "I'm going to contact Norm!" Khaki said, "Can you find out what that is?"

The native Na'vi nodded and leaped off the platform, unslung her bow from around her neck and took an arrow from her quiver.

Harry cursed to himself and broke into the jungle, cutting to the left and behind a tree in an attempt not to get shot. He pressed his invisible hand up against the mossy trunk and watched the bioluminescence ripple outwards from his pressure. Last night he had loved watching his steps activate the strange moss, now he ignored it, listening intently. The telltale 'swish!' of an arrow in flight never came, and he peeked around the tree invisibly. The Na'vi was approaching his hiding place cautiously. She was looking in all directions, ears moving constantly for sound, tail hovering above the leaves for silence. She didn't know where he was. Harry took a few steps backwards, quietly, moving away as the Na'vi came closer. She was sniffing the air and moving towards him, he was afraid that she could smell him.

By his second step Harry realized his mistake. The moss underfoot activated from the pressure, sending out telltale ripples of blue light. The Na'vi pounced and knocked Harry to the ground. He felt the cloak slip off of his head and looked up to see the Na'vi with her bow drawn, the business end of a three foot, half inch thick arrow pointing at his face.

In a second the female's large, yellow eyes widened in surprise. Harry knew he was caught, so he undid the string on his cloak and let it fall away, it reappeared around him, shimmery and thin, and the Na'vi woman moved away, releasing the tension on her bow slightly. Just slightly. "What trick is this, Sky Person?"

"It's not a trick," Harry said fast and low, "I need the floating stick back from the school. None of the others can know about it."

Recognition flared in her eyes and the bioluminescence on her skin began to flash rapidly, "You are the one mother and father found yesterday, you fell from the sky!"

News spreads fast among the Na'vi, Harry thought. "Yes, that was me. Now will you help me get the floating stick back? The other, uh, Sky People _really_ shouldn't find it."

Her eyes were excited as she looked at Harry as a new person. She slung her bow and put the arrow back in its quiver. "I shall get you your… magic… stick, and then you must tell me whatever I ask."

Harry knew he was stuck. "That's fine."

The Na'vi woman grinned, showing off two subtle fangs among white teeth, and ran towards the school. Harry quickly slipped on his cloak and followed her. She walked right up to the group of Na'vi children who were now poking the floating broom with sticks. They were laughing and cheering as it drifted away higher as one poked it from underneath. "Fnu 'eveg!" she said, and the children quieted. Khaki was off on the other side of the clearing holding her finger to her neck and saying. "I have no idea, Norm! The paint just scattered itself all over and the footprints started appearing!"

The Na'vi woman grabbed the broom from the air and whispered something to the gathered children. She turned and sprinted back towards Harry, breaking the bushes just as Khaki said, "Yeah, you better get over here. Bye."

She ran past Harry to the tree where he used to be, and Harry joined her, removing the cloak in front of her. "Tawtute ta tireafya'o!"

"Yeah I liked a lot when I first got it, too," Harry said, rather self-conscious. Their language was very beautiful, and he felt like a barking dog in comparison.

The woman was still in amazement over Harry's cloak, but nodded and beckoned Harry to follow. She lead him to a small clearing where a giant winged creature waited. To Harry's amazement, she climbed onto its back, connecting her long brand of hair to it. Harry was confused as to why, but when she called him over to climb on behind her, Harry shook his head. A hippogriff had been bad enough, and he wouldn't trust a creature with its own mind to fly him ever again. "I got my own air transportation, thanks. Just lead the way."

"You can fly?" the Na'vi woman asked, "Show me."

Harry cracked a smile, his lacking the sharp incisors that hers contained, and jumped on his Firebolt. The moss below him sent out a ring of light and Harry fancied it the extending inferno of a rocket launching from its pad. And Harry was a rocket. For the first time in over 180 years he took the Firebolt to its top speed, shooting onto the air and leveling out fifty feet up, leaving the Na'vi woman looking much smaller on the ground. Harry wish he had fangs to show off by the time she caught up with him.

"You will tell me everything," the woman said from the back of her fearsome mount, whose small, intelligent eye was peering at Harry, assessing him. The woman patted its neck lovingly and whispered something to it before she gave a wild yell. They took off, and Harry spun around to follow.

Apparently the Na'vi liked flying as much as Harry did, for she swooped, spun, and banked hard, putting Harry through his paces. She was testing him, comparing his mode of flying to hers. The two were similar in their abilities, with the Na'vi mount more agile than Harry's Firebolt. It had the advantage of using the air as a pad, and a rigid structure of bone to withstand the g-forces. Compared to Harry, the Na'vi woman steered her mount in tight spirals and loops, grinning widely as she looked back at Harry to see how he handled the challenge.

But when it came to speed, the Firebolt was king. She leveled out, pleased with the impression that she had superior flight, and put on speed. To Harry it was a gradual increase, and so he decided to let her know that he wasn't completely useless. He pushed forward, full force, and shot past the Na'vi, whose mount was incapable of catching him. She tried sending it into a dive, hoping to sacrifice altitude for speed, but Harry had none of it. He dove was well, keeping pace and accelerating just as fast as she. He continued until he could no longer see the shocked expression on her face. When he was satisfied he had proved his point he allowed her to catch up and lead once more. She flew past with a nod and raised hand, acknowledging his prowess.

They landed a minute later at the bottom of a cliff. A surging waterfall had cut away the rock in one spot, retreating the cliff so a chink was formed in the straight and imposing ledge. It was to this opening that the Na'vi guided Harry, and she pointed to an island that rose in the center of the river below the waterfall, far away enough so that they could hear each over its intense roar and not be soaked by its rushing mist, but near enough to still be surrounded on three sides by vertical, imposing rock. Harry dove sharply, evened out, and hopped off his broom, landing at a run like an airplane. The Na'vi woman allowed her mount to flutter down softly, vaulting off as its claws dug securely into the loamy soil.

Harry sat down on a rock, and the Na'vi sat cross-legged on the ground beside him. Her head was still higher than his, and Harry felt like a kid compared to her, even though he had the sneaking suspicion that he might actually be older. When he realized that he was technically close to two centuries old, he decided that she _was_ young, just barely into womanhood. Is that what they called it?

"Now," the Na'vi said, "Speak."

Harry shook his head, "I'm Harry Potter. Nice to meet you." He put out his hand, to shake hers, uncaring that she likely had no idea what it meant. He was surprised when she reached out to return the shake. She had five fingers.

"I am Atan'iti. It is a great pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter."

"Likewise, Atan'iti. May I ask a question before I answer yours?"

She smiled at him, seemingly much more relaxed now. "You may."

"Why do some Na'vi have four fingers and other have five?"

Atan'iti seemed surprised at the question. "Do you not know? The dreamwalkers' bodies have five fingers. Your people call them Avatars."

Harry shook his head. I don't understand. What are avatars? Are you and Khaki and Jake all avatars?"

If Harry thought Atan'iti was confused before, now he knew she was confused. "The other at the school whom you call Khaki is, yes. Her body is controlled by one of the Sky People while they are asleep. Jake used to be a dreamwalker, but now he is Omaticaya. He has passed through the Eye of Eywa and now is one with his avatar."

"And what about you?"

"Me?" Atan'iti asked. She looked at her hands, and smiled slightly. "I am the daughter of Jake and Neytiri, olo'eyktan and tsahik of the Omaticaya Na'vi." She drew herself up proudly, and Harry hated to ask her to explain the significance of the words, but he did. "Skxawng!" she said, "You truly know nothing of this world?" Harry shook his head. Atan'iti relented and explained what positions Jake and Neytiri held.

"So, you're like a princess, then? And you have five fingers because…" he couldn't quite process the idea of a half-human half-Na'vi with a full human mind. It was even stranger than the weirdest spells and potions Harry had come across.

"Because I have some human blood within me," she said, finishing for him. "I have inherited my fingers from my father."

Harry nodded, feeling like he finally had a grasp on the concept. "What do you want to know about me?"


	6. Foot in the Door

Atan'iti's first question was no surprise to Harry, "How do you fly with no machines and become sightless in the eyes of others? I did not know the Sky People could do such things."

Harry knew that he could lie, that he could make up some weak excuse as he had done for the scientists. After he had returned from his broom ride last night he spend until dawn going through the seemingly unlimited data available on his pad, crafting a story. He knew much of the basic stuff from his primary schooling- what a sun was, other possible solar systems, and space travel, but the pad quickly educated him on quantum physics theories, on RDA practices, and on the highly desirable Unobtainium. The last two were easy enough to grasp, as it dealt with the unchecked human desire for power, something that Harry could understand quite easily, and the quantum physics had been idiotised enough for him to see the logic behind it. It had been easy to fool the scientists' minds with facts, data that they felt they had some grasp over, when they truly knew nothing about it. Their faith in their false knowledge was what made them so gullible, and what Harry knew would make them so opposed to the idea of magic. However, Atan'iti had called his broom a 'magic stick' by herself, and that gave hope to Harry. He didn't want it to be a secret, but with the human scientists, he felt he had no choice. "No one else can do what I did," he replied. "I'm rather unique."

Harry began his explanation into what magic was and how it worked. When he mentioned magic wands, Atan'iti asked him to show her, but Harry replied, "I don't have one. It was destroyed just before I was pulled here."

"So, you have control over this magic, a control that none of the other Sky People have."

"That's right. They think its all fantasy." Atan'iti didn't know the word. "Children's stories."

"The songs we sing to our children are meant to educate," she said, "But I understand what you say. Why are you the only one?"

"I didn't used to be. There's one thing I haven't mentioned yet. My journey here from Earth took much longer than it takes for other Sky People. For them, it takes four years. For me it took 180 years, two full lifetimes of travel. Since then I'm pretty sure all the others like me have died, and no more have been born since then."

"You are the last of your kind, then," said Atan'iti. She seemed sad for Harry.

"I think so. I'm the last wizard." They were both silent for a while. Atan'iti searching Harry for something, while Harry's mind jumped between introspection and admiration of the beauty around them. A lizard crawled onto the rock upon which Harry was seated and looked at him with the rotating eyes of a chameleon. Harry went to touch it, curious how the brown, scaleless creature felt, when it suddenly exploded in a flash of color. A single, vibrant wing fanned out above the lizard in a twirl and the small creature was carried away in the lowered gravity by the wing's momentum, spinning like a top below the spiral wing attached to his back. Harry, for his part, fell off his rock. Atan'iti laughed at him as he righted himself, her tail swaying back and forth in mirthful motion.

Harry began to laugh too despite his flushing red face, and the contemplative mood was broken. "Where does your power come from, Harry Potter?"

Harry pointed to his chest, "It comes from myself. Most Sky People would call it a soul, and mine is unique among them all because it makes magic."

"Eywa's energy comes from the life of all creatures. It is strange that your power comes from within."

Without warning Atan'iti picked Harry up by his shoulders and pressed his chest to her ear. Harry hung there, shocked, feeling like a limp doll in the arms of a possibly abusive little girl. Atan'iti could have thrown him thirty feet into the air if she pleased. She set him down after a moment, disappointed.

"I could not feel any of your magic, Harry Potter. I wish you could show me more than your cloak and flying stick."

"I wish I could too. What I would need is a wand, but I wouldn't know which trees to start with."

Atan'iti seemed to consider something, "Let me speak with my father. He may be able to help you."

Harry brightened considerably. If anyone knew which trees on Pandora held special properties, it would be the Na'vi. "Thank you, I would be in great debt if you helped me like that."

Atan'iti nodded her acceptance, "So why have you come?"

"Everyone keeps asking me. It wasn't my choice to come. Something pulled me here, away from Earth. I spend all that time in transit through space, my body didn't change but my mind was always active. I heard a voice speak to me just as my journey ended and I fell from the sky, where Jake and Neytiri found me. I was pulled here and it was for a bigger reason then my enjoyment of the sights." Atan'iti looked surprised and intrigued by his explanation. "I think rather than something that it was someone. I know that I am supposed to do something here, that I have some purpose. The only thing I can think of right now, however, is that I want to protect Pandora from the RDA. Norm and Abe and all the rest say we're long overdue for an invasion."

Atan'iti looked at him with her large, feline eyes, judging his character. "You say you lied to all the Sky People. Why do you speak the truth to me?"

"I didn't want to lie to anyone, but I don't want to become something for them to examine. If they knew what I could do then they would want to study me endlessly, convinced they could find the science behind something that naturally defies explanation. It would be useless and annoying.

"And as for you, I really didn't have a choice when you saw my broomstick and invisibility cloak. If I hadn't have told you, you would have brought me right to Khaki. Besides, like I said, I don't want to keep it a secret. I want to learn everything I can about this place, and right now I hardly know anything."

"Perhaps it is Eywa that has brought you here, like she did before with my father. Your magic is unique and powerful, even among the Sky People, and I can see already that you wish to be a friend to the Na'vi. You are worried about more Sky People coming, so is my father, and the scientists. Perhaps will arrive soon, and you will help us stop them."

"I am not powerful, Atan'iti, especially without a wand."

She nodded and stood up, offering her hand to Harry. He took it and was pulled up in one swoop, effortlessly. She held his hand after he was standing, "If the Na'vi help you find your purpose, and help in your quest to craft a new wand, will you pledge to help us in the fight against the Sky People?"

Harry nodded, and they shook on it.

*

Atan'iti promised to return to Hell's gate tomorrow with her father to discuss further their deal, and the fears that they all shared of an imminent invasion. Overall, Harry was pleased with their talk and the deal he had made. It would provide him with purpose on Pandora, and opened the opportunity to learn about the Na'vi culture. For now, he wanted to learn about this place, learn more from his books, and somehow get away from the very place he was returning to.

On the way back to Hell's Gate he saw a wild banshee flying low over the treetops, peering down through the canopy in its search for prey. He flew within feet of Harry, but never noticed anything amiss with Harry's cloak. Harry asked Atan'iti if he would be safe in his cloak from Pandora's creatures, and she said he would be 'safer.' That was good enough for him.

Harry landed on the outskirts of Hell's Gate. He checked the bottoms of his shoes for paint and checked around for observers. Finding nothing of either sort, he removed his cloak and quickly wrapped the Firebolt in it. Abe intercepted him halfway back to the compound "Harry! Get inside, quickly! There's been a situation at the school and Atan'iti is missing! Roxanne says there might be some unknown predator roaming around and no one is allowed to be outside right now."

Harry knew he had to play dumb, "Thanks for telling me, but who is Atan'iti?"

They were both jogging back to the airlock, "Jake's daughter! She's like the princess of the Omaticaya!"

The airlock door sealed behind them and the room filled with breathable oxygen, "That's not very good, then, is it?" Harry asked stupidly.

"No its not, man!" he said, and Harry felt bad over his distress. "The worst part is, it happened on our watch! Roxanne asked Atan'iti to find whatever it was at the school and she hasn't come back yet."

The red light began spinning and the inner door opened to Hell's Interior. Celia was there, waiting for them. "They found Atan'iti. She says she was tracking the animal at the school, but it got away."

Abe let out a breath of air and his figure relaxed. "Did she come back before the hunters arrive to take the children?"

"Yeah," Celia said, "Everything is fine, although Atan'iti's brother is annoyed she didn't take him along to find the animal."

"Alright," Abe said, "I'm gonna go to the link room and wait for Roxanne and Norm to come back. You and Harry get to know each other a bit. We still need to find something for him to do." To Harry he said, "Next time don't go so far to where we can't find you, Harry. Hell's Gate is well guarded, but at the edge something like a thanator could snatch you up pretty easily before our guys in the tower have time to react." Harry nodded, properly chastised, and Abe left to the link room.

"So what did you do today, Harry?" Celia asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"

"A bit, yeah," Harry said. In truth he was more than a bit hungry, as he hadn't remembered to eat breakfast before he ran out of the airlock, anxious to get away from the searching eyes of the scientists. Celia led him to the kitchens and prepared food for the two of them.

She set down a sandwich with strange meat inside of it. "What is this?" Harry asked warily.

"Hexapede!" Celia said happily. "They look like antelopes, sort of. Have you seen an antelope on a datapad before?"

Harry wanted to tell her he had seen a real antelope in a zoo before, but resisted. "Yes I think I've seen one." He bit into the sandwich with trepidation, but found that it was excellent, soft and flavorful.

"It tastes like turkey!" Harry said.

Celia stopped mid-bite, "You've had turkey before?"

"Uh, yeah… I was able to get a last meal before I was sent into the sun."

She seemed to accept the answer, and finished her bite. "Probably cloned meat," she said. I heard wildlife has been extinct on Earth for years.

"So how does using an Avatar work?" Harry asked. "Can anyone use one?"

"No, an avatar is paired with its driver. They are grown using the driver's DNA, and if anyone else tried to control someone's avatar… well… I don't actually know what would happen. You'd have to ask Mom or Dad." Harry didn't like the answer, but realized that sitting in a 'link room' all day was not an option for him. Slowly, a plan began to form.

Harry was able to escape Celia after they had finished. He liked the friendly girl, but the last thing he needed to do right now was waste valuable time with people he didn't need to learn anything about. He respected the scientists turned colonist/refugees, but had a more important purpose than making friends. The other humans in the base were busy building and maintaining their and maintaining their lives in addition to finding out more about Pandora in the hopes of finding something that could _save_ Earth, not just keep bandaging dire wounds with Unobtainium. It was a respectable goal, but not Harry's goal.

Harry was lying on his stomach on the top bunk, flipping through the pages of _The Metamorphmagus Guidebook,_ reading the introductory chapters that explained exactly what the magic encompassed. Harry was surprised to find that the Metamorphmagus transformation was complete and real, involving not only form, but also function. Harry remembered back to when Tonks changed her nose into a pigs' snout and realized that she had been hit with intense smells coming from the dinner table. The drawback to Metamorphmagus magic was that it would not allow the user to change himself or herself to anything besides human. Tonks could have given herself a pig snout, pig eyes, and pig ears, but she would still be a human with the face of a pig. Yes, she could make her body larger, smaller, taller, and shorter, even different colors, but Harry was unsure if he would be able to grow to the size of the Na'vi. Besides the height, he knew that being a Metamorphmagus would have certain drawbacks. The Na'vi had a grace and a strength that Harry wouldn't hope to match, even if he succeeded in copying their form exactly. The sensory abilities Harry would get as a Metamorphmagus- sights, smells, sounds. The physical strength and agility would be beyond him. In fact, the book stated that forms far off from Harry's normal figure would cause him to be clumsier, if anything. From his experiences with Tonks Harry knew the book to be accurate.

If Harry could somehow make his Animagus form be Na'vi, then it would be the much better option. However he knew that the choice was _not_ his, not consciously, anyways. The book described the form as a symbolic reflection of the Animagus' deepest self. Harry was who he was, and no amount of willpower could change his Animagus form.

So he was stuck. It looked like the Metamorphmagus route was by far the better one to take. He would look like a Na'vi, would _be_ a Na'vi in a shallow sense, but would be lacking that certain finality that the Animagus form offered. He sighed through his nose and began to practice the first-step exercises from the manual.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the short updates, but don't worry about me cutting corners. These short chapters allow me to update more frequently, and encourages me to take on this daunting task in shorter bites. The narrative will be more or less continual, with subsequent chapters picking up the instant the previous one leaves off. The ball is really starting to roll now, so tell me your thoughts on the story. Hopefully some of your concerns have been met, Zealot.


	7. Lose Some Win Some

He reread the simple exercise to make sure he understood it fully - sometimes the most elementary instruction could be taken in the worst direction. _Look at your face in a mirror for one hour and try and see yourself in a new way._ Okay, that wasn't so hard.

Harry ventured out into the hallways, found a mirror in the bathroom, and stole it back to his quarters. He looked at the mirror with trepidation. To see himself as best he could the bubblehead charm would have to be dispelled and Harry worried that he wouldn't be able to get it back on once it was gone. The first time had been a fluke, a lucky break in a time of absolute need. When he tried the charm next it wouldn't be so dire, and his magic might not respond without a wand. He shook his head, there was nothing to do but try. He could always use one of the scientist's rebreathers but it wouldn't fit in with his story about his prototype. He was lucky not to arouse suspicion when he disappeared from the base for a few hours earlier, and he didn't want to test that streak. Setting the mirror on his desk, he dispelled the charm with a shake of his head, sat in the chair, and began to look at his reflection. He saw his glasses, his eyes, and the stubble on his chin that he hadn't yet shaven. It was his face and he was at a loss to see himself in a new way. He decided to look closer, leaning in, and stared at his nose. It was rather boxy, he decided, and his nostrils slightly too large in comparison with the bridge. Little hairs grew out of the pores and he realized that there was hair all over his face, invisible fur that covered his entire body, like peach fuzz that was undetectable except for the most astute observer. Inside of his eyes was the green ring of color, but there was something more, he noticed. The green was actually not a solid color, but textured. Strands of fibrous muscle wrapped around the black pits in the center, and Harry could see the color constantly adjusting the iris, opening them slightly, closing them slightly. He snapped his eyes back and forth to each eye staring at him in the mirror, and with each snap the color moved, just slightly.

His lips were a network of parallel valleys and he realized they were dry. To one side were three concentric C's whose bottoms trailed off in bushy foxtails. They were a result of too many little lopsided smirks. Harry's upper lip was small, too flat. He remembered Atan'iti's lips, all Na'vi lips, how they popped out from the face, not literally, but the graceful curves were impossible not to notice. Harry heard a small pop and suddenly his lips were gracefully curving. And they were blue. He had been leaning into the mirror, his nose barely missing the silvery glass, and he jumped back in surprise. His knees banged the desk and the mirror fell flat from its propped up position. Harry grabbed at the fancy gilded handle and turned it back to his face with excited fingers. There they were - blue Na'vi lips. "Wicked."

Harry consulted the book again, and he was surprised to find that the exercise he had read before was gone. In its place was different text_. I'm glad you got it so quickly. It appears you're a natural, so all of the instructions and exercises up to Chapter Four are drivel. Turn to page 57 to continue. _Harry laughed at the text, obviously enchanted to adapt to each reader's individual circumstances if required. He thought the author's personal touch for students who excelled was clever.

The warning that preceded Chapter Four made Harry's good mood disappear. Chapter four was about changes to the height, weight, and eyes of the aspiring Metamorphmagus. _Before we begin the chapter, a warning to those who wish to use this as anything other than a human to human transformation- it will not work. Metamorphmagus abilities do not extend to the organs in any way whatsoever with the exception of the skin, eyes, and vocal chords. You cannot grow gills using Metamorphmagus transformations, you cannot make your lungs larger for more capacity, and you cannot enlarge your stomach to engage in gluttony. Most of all, you cannot increase or decrease your size in any large amount, for your heart will stop almost instantly from the shock. If you attempt any of these things you will find this manual of no assistance. Train to become an Animagus instead._

Harry shut the book and threw it across the room. That was it, then. He was once and for all buggered. Even if he managed the size gap he still would constantly need a bubblehead charm and wouldn't even be able to safely digest half of the things the Na'vi ate. Harry looked at the book and cursed the author's uppity tone. _Become an Animagus instead_… Thanks for that. He ran his fingers through his hair and growled in frustration.

What good would it be to become some weak, extinct Earth creature? Harry pushed out from his table and flopped down on his bed. He had been a natural, too! It would have been the perfect solution, but it ended up being a waste of an hour. Why weren't things ever simple with magic?

Harry sat up quickly. What if the Animagus transformation didn't turn him into an earth creature? Harry wasn't on Earth anymore, he was on Pandora. It was quite possible that his Animagus form would be a native of Pandora. While he wouldn't be Na'vi, he would certainly be able to make Pandora his home and get out of this forsaken concrete bunker. He jumped out of his bunk and snatched _A Complete Guide to the Animagus Transformation_ from the stack of books he had lMaxled, "Not Useless" and laid down on the top bunk. He cracked open the old manual, coughed out the dust that fell on his face, and began to read from page one.

*

Harry stood out on the grassy area between the main building and the avatar basketball court and barracks with Norm and Max. Norm had 'informed' Harry that morning a Na'vi party was coming to discuss a few topics and they had requested Harry be there. Norm had a strange look on his face as he delivered the invitation and Harry wondered if he was already drawing attention to himself. He had managed to get the bubblehead charm back in place after considerable effort, eventually slamming his fist in frustration when the bubblehead charms snapped into being around his head. Perhaps he just had to be angry all the time and he wouldn't need a wand at all.

The warm Pandoran sun warmed his skin as Harry scanned the sky for a group of Banshee riders. The two scientists were talking quietly together, slightly away from Harry while attempting to be inconspicuous about it. Harry ignored it. To them he was just a kid, the same age as Norm's daughter, and so he really didn't have any role in the large picture as far as they knew. But his presence has been requested, and that must've tickled their curiosity, or perhaps their suspicions. Either way if the meeting with Jake went well today then he would be able to place his foot one step further away from the boundaries of Hell's Gate and into Pandora proper. Something about Hell's Gate was very wrong to him… deeply wrong. Yes, it was a blight on the beauty of Pandora and yes, humans didn't belong here, but there was something more than that. Harry couldn't figure it out, what made his stomach queasy as he considered the cement buildings, and pushed down the thoughts. He scanned the sky. He couldn't wait.

Three Banshees with riders appeared over the treetops and Norm and Max cut their conversation short. Harry thought the flying creatures were beautiful, their smooth leathery skin was the finest rubber, perfectly smooth and soft to the touch, colored brilliantly in swirls and lines of brightness against the dark, or dark lines against the brightness, intelligent, terrible eyes revealing the power behind the beauty. Their colors were as numerous as the population itself, each individual design different from all others. The group of three landed, and Harry saw Jake, Atan'iti, and Neytiri on the back of the ferocious, vibrant mounts. They reminded Harry of small dragons, really, and dragons weren't such bad creatures.

They dismounted and Harry was reminded again of the towering size and absolute alien grace of the Na'vi. Jake greeted Max and Norm warmly before giving a nod to Harry, his yellow eyes searching him with a new suspicion. Harry wondered how much Atan'iti had told her parents. Neytiri hugged both of the men at the same time, gently Harry noticed humorously, and he wondered if the men were offended that a woman had to be careful not to hurt them accidentally. Atan'iti, for her part, waved at Harry and smiled brightly, showing her elongated incisors. Her tail was swaying back and forth just as it had the day before, in a relaxed swish with the smallest hint of a figure-eight. Neytiri frowned at her daughter's familiarity.

Harry chuckled to himself. Jake had been human for most of his life, and yet it was Atan'iti that was acting the most human, a Na'vi that had been born Na'vi. Norm suggested they all sit at the far side of the Avatar barracks where a Na'vi sized bench had been erected. The humans looked pitifully small, like four year olds with their chests barely above the tabletop compared to the normally sitting Na'vi, but it was the most comfortable situation possible.

"Before we start," Norm began, "With no offense to you, Harry," he turned to look at Jake, "Is there a reason you requested him to be here?"

"I assumed Harry is something of a third party to our situation, here, and he doesn't really fall in with the colony at large. I figured he should be able to hear this for himself, and he also might be able to tell us something of the RDA's plans. Also," Harry knew whatever Jake said next was the real truth by the resigned look on his face, "My daughter has an acute interest for humans and Earth in general, and I thought she might like to speak with Harry about it to satisfy her curiosity."

"Knowing where her father comes from is important, but Jake has told her much about Earth already, and the vile place the Sky People have made it. I do not wish to indulge her curiosity," Neytiri said. She did not look happy that Harry was there.

"But she is a warrior," Jake said with obvious pride. Had that happened recently? Once again Harry wondered about Atan'iti's age. It was impossible for him to tell without asking. "She can decide for herself what is good to know and what is not."

Max nodded, accepting the situation. He didn't seem to care all that much, and indeed Harry's presence made little difference. "How are relations with the rest of the clans?"

"All the clans still pledge to send warriors if the Sky People return. I am still toruk makto, and as long as I'm alive the clans will be united." Atan'iti looked at her father with pride, and Harry felt a small twinge of sadness. They were close. Harry couldn't but help wish for the same thing, even after all the time he spent in the great divide that separated his before life and this new life.

"That's good," Norm said. "We'll need everyone. This isn't their planet anymore and they will realize it if we have all the Na'vi waiting for them."

Jake nodded. "If we hit them hard and fast they may not be able to get established. I've warned all the clans to notify me if they see anything strange in the sky, wreckage, or humans walking around. They might decide to try and set up somewhere else."

"Doubtful," Max said. "The reason they set up here was because this is where all the Unobtanium is buried. It trumps other regions' deposits by far."

"What do they use it for?" Atan'iti asked. "Why do the Sky People need the… metal?"

"It's used for matter-antimatter reactions," Max said automatically, forgetting who he was talking to. Both Atan'iti and Neytiri (Harry too, but no one noticed) had blank looks. "It's like… umm… it's like taking dirt," he scooped up a handful of dirt, "and combining it with a special material that is the exact opposite of dirt. When they meet each other, they destroy each other completely, and all that energy that was holding it all together is released."

"The Sky People get their energies by… destroying the universe?" Neytiri looked shocked and angry. Harry thought she had a pretty good grasp on it, actually.

Norm looked sheepish, "I never thought of it that way, but yeah that's a pretty accurate on a small scale. You only need a tiny bit for a tremendous amount of energy."

"Let's get back on track," Jake said. He looked at Harry, "Do you have any information to share about all of this?"

Harry shook his head, "I wasn't ever an employee of RDA. I was just someone they found who was willing to test out something that sounded very fatal. I don't know anything at all about their plans."

"Okay," Jake said. "What about a timeframe?"

"Max and I have been discussing it," Norm said, "And we think that RDA might be delayed for a few reasons. Pandora is probably considered a war zone now, and it's possibly that RDA was tied up in bureaucracy. It takes a lot to get the proper permits to fight a war, even for someone like RDA. Second, they might be developing new technology to fight a war on Pandora. All the stuff they had before was general purpose, mostly built for mining on Mars. They might be giving up a few years to develop some big plan and the machines to carry it through."

"It's been eighteen years, and nine of those years are just travel time, so that leaves nine years to be filled with government red tape and research and development. Is that a realistic timeframe?"

Harry remembered the inefficiency of the Ministry of Magic and found the theory quite possible. Norm and Max shared his thoughts, "Oh yeah it's possible!" Norm exclaimed. Max nodded.

"Then we'd better really start preparing. You two come up with a plan and let me know. We're going to have a talk with Harry, now." Norm and Max were surprised that they were being excused in favor of Harry, but they didn't say anything. They were good-natured guys and were probably eager to begin preparations. The two men walked back to the main building deep in conversation.

"Atan'iti my child, will you please tell us now what is so urgent?" Neytiri looked at her daughter with impatient, curious eyes.

The bioluminescence on Atan'iti's skin blinked like a Broadway billboard under her mother's scrutiny, but she held her head up and said, "Harry and I came to an agreement yesterday, and I request that he be allowed a communion with Ramunong and the right to take wood from Home tree."

"Never!" Neytiri spit out. "He is not Na'vi, he is human!"

"So is father!"Atan'iti protested. "And so am I! I have human in my blood as well, mother!" She lifted her five-fingered hand, "Am I to be denied communion with Eywa as well?"

"Atan'iti," Jake said softly, "You know that it is forbidden. Harry has not earned the right to do either. He is not Omaticaya."

"He is now one of Pandora! Who are you to deny one of Eywa's children to speak to their mother?"

"Silence, child!" Neytiri shouted. "Do not presume to know what Eywa wills in such haste! It is foolish and… and human to do so!"

Atan'iti looked down at the table, stroking the old, smooth wood with her fingertips. Softly, "It was not me who made the first hasty proclamation, mother. It was you who denied my request using your own judgment."

Silence descended on the table as Atan'iti's statement sank in. Neytiri looked at her daughter with piercing eyes, then towards Harry. They accused him of great crimes, and Harry looked at his fingernails. To her daughter, "You wish me to seek Eywa's will in this, truly? You believe your request is important?"

"I do."

Neytiri stood from the table, "I shall seek Eywa's will on this request." She moved to the edge of the Pandoran jungle and crouched on her knees in the shade of a tree.

Jake looked at Harry, "My daughter said you had a request of me as Olo'eyktan, but I never expected this. She is wise, but has a great interest in humankind. What have you said to her to trick her into this?"

"Father!"

Jake held up his hand, silencing his daughter, "I wish to hear it from Harry."

"I told her that if the Na'vi helped me, I would be able to help in the fight against the RDA. I said that among humans, I was unique and that I would be a great asset to the Na'vi, if only I had a few things."

Jake looked at Harry, his slightly receptive expression shutting down halfway through Harry's answer. "In case you haven't noticed, Harry, I wasn't always Na'vi. I lived on Earth for twenty years before I came here. You expect me to believe you're unique? You're a teenager!"

Harry sighed and slumped his shoulders, having no way to prove Jake wrong. He did not have his cloak or his Firebolt with him, and even if he did he wouldn't dare use them in sight of the compound. The avatar barracks was only ten feet away. He looked at Atan'iti, whose hopeful, confident expression fell with the slump of Harry's shoulders. What could he do to convince them that he truly needed their help?

Perhaps it was better this way, anyways. The Animagus transformation wouldn't make him Na'vi if it made him a Pandoran animal at all. He didn't need their help for that. As for the wand wood, Harry was at a loss. He was stuck. "I have nothing to say to that, sir. I know I can't prove anything."

"Harry!" Atan'iti exclaimed. "Why will you not show him?"

"Show me what?" Jake said, looking between the two of them.

Atan'iti shook her head vigorously, "Show him, Harry!"

He was torn between Atan'iti and his own desire to hide. He could show Jake, show him his invisibility cloak. It would prove beyond any doubt that Harry had something the normal human lacked. But dare he risk sacrificing the relative freedom he enjoyed at Hell's Gate? It could be years before he mastered his transformation, and there were no guarantees on his form being beneficial to him. Atan'iti's eyes were asking Harry silently, pleading with him not to shame her in front of her father. She had just proven herself and adult in the clan, worthy of her own thoughts an own opinions - Harry could see it. She spoke and her parents considered her opinion, but they were not used to doing so. How could he take that away from her? He could never sacrifice her reputation to protect his own selfish comfort. He gave Atan'iti a one-sided smirk, showing his triplet foxtail wrinkles, and her eyes lit up in relief. She smiled back at him.

"I can show you," Harry said, and he began to get up to retrieve his cloak.

"Eywa has granted your desire for an audience, Harry Potter," said Neytiri, wonder in her voice. "We shall leave immediately."

Author's Notes"

Phew, a full day of work and I still got this out! You guys should be thanking me with kittens! Here it comes, ladies and gents…


	8. Eywa

"What?" Jake said, turning to look at his mate.

"It is Eywa's will to speak with Harry in haste. I do not know why."

Harry looked to see Atan'iti puff herself up proudly, looking at her father with 'I told you so' written in her raised eyebrows. Atan'iti may be Na'vi, but she was also very human, like another girl he had once know. Her curious mind and excitable personality, not to mention her slight bossiness, reminded him so much of Hermione. He could still see her face in his mind, dead and still, and he found himself looking at Atan'iti instead. Hermione was dead, but his new she was alive and well. She caught his eye and she smiled and laughed softly, turning away just as she locked gazes, faster than the shadow of a bird overhead. Harry's spirits rose considerably. If he wasn't mistaken, he had made his first real friend on Pandora.

*

This time there was no escaping riding on the back of a Banshee as they travelled to a place called the Tree of Souls, located amidst the floating behemoths knows as the Hallelujah Mountains.

"Do not be so tense, Harry Potter!" Atan'iti called back to Harry, who had his arms wrapped around her waist. The first thing Harry realized when he unsteadily climbed onto her banshee and held onto her as he had been instructed was that her skin was very soft. His hands came around and grasped each other at her stomach, and his forearms and wrists touched her bare skin. Atan'iti's skin was blue, yes, and at night it held intricate dots of color, designed by an unseen, alien master artist, but the softness was purely female - not alien. He had wrapped his arms around her and he saw the design of her luminescence change slightly. She let out a whoop of excitement and her banshee thrust them into the air.

Now they were flying between huge floating rocks, the Banshees banking and swooping according to the mental direction of the Na'vi trio. Harry felt the mist of a nearby waterfall finding its way down the Pandoran surface thousands of feet below. "I'm not used to flying without being in control!" Harry yelled back. If Atan'iti had been human he could have whispered his reply directly into her ear, but instead he had to speak up to ensure the four foot distance between her mid back and ears would be traversed by his words. This time Harry was not feeling like a doll. This time he was a baby monkey holding onto its mother as she swung haphazardly through the trees.

Harry saw Atan'iti nod in understanding and laugh. "Your magic stick flies at your thoughts, yes? It is the same with Txe'lan. Do not worry about control, instead worry about what you will ask of Eywa!"

Very comforting Atan'iti, Harry thought. Instead of worrying about his death he should worry about speaking with their mysterious nature-deity. Harry had no idea if Eywa was actually a real, single being, or just a mythological figurehead that the Na'vi put importance in. It had been powerful enough (or a powerful enough idea) to force Neytiri to allow Harry a chance to find his purpose, so Harry was going to give it his best shot. Perhaps Eywa would tell him exactly what he needed to know, and perhaps she would tell him nothing. Either way spending time with the Na'vi, Atan'iti, and getting away from Hell's Gate and into the heart of Pandora was more than worth the trip.

Txe'lan dipped suddenly and a large collection of rocks trapped in connective vine tissue flew over Harry's head. On the vines he caught a small group of Na'vi scampering from boulder to boulder, trapped by the roots of the green sinew. They were climbing fast and the leader stopped to wave at Harry's group. Atan'iti raised her hand back, and Harry did nothing, preferring to keep his grip around the only think that was holding him to Txe'lan. Harry liked flying. He loved it, in fact. But Harry wasn't flying right now, he was riding, and he decided that he hated riding.

"What are they doing?" Harry asked of Atan'iti over the wind.

"They are attempting the rite of passage into adulthood by going to bond with their ikran. Every warrior must claim their own ikran."

So Atan'iti had accomplished the same feat that the vine-climbing group was attempting now, he thought. No wonder they were treated as full members of the Omaticaya afterwards. "How old are they?" he asked.

"Usually they are eighteen or nineteen of your years, Harry Potter!" Atan'iti shouted.

"Is that how old you were?"

Atan'iti glanced back at Harry, "Yes. I finished the trials not long before you arrived!" The group had scampered up the vine connecting two of the floating monoliths and was now climbing their way up the side of the rock. Harry wondered if he could ever have done that. Atan'iti seemed to know his thoughts, "It is hard, but only moderately dangerous for a Na'vi well prepared."

Txe'lan carried Harry and Atan'iti out of the channel they had been travelling in, Hallelujah Mountains closing in around them from all sides, and shot out into open air. In the distance Harry saw huge stone arches, like earthly rainbows, looping high above the jungle canopy. The arches numbered in the dozens, and spread out for miles in front of him. Above Harry could see wild ikran circling, watching the riders warily. "We have almost arrived, Harry!" Atan'iti said. Harry could hear the excitement in her voice. Harry was reminded again of Hermione and his first quidditch match. He wondered if Atan'iti would pile Na'vi food onto a leaf plate and command him to 'eat!' before he went to attempt to speak with Eywa.

The group of three ikran riders and Harry dipped down towards the great arches and Harry realized that they actually were not quite stone. There seemed to be a large quantity of metal in them as well, for instead of the dull matte of rock, the arches almost seemed to reflect and shine the afternoon sun. They dipped down and flew under one of the arches and Harry felt something strange in his chest, like when he first passed the Hogwarts boundaries all those years ago. Could it have been wards? Harry shook his head. No, it wasn't wards. The feeling was not the same. But there was some powerful, unseen force at work. It was probably the same force that created the arches, and the same force that kept the hulking, graceful Hallelujah Mountains afloat.

The ikran glided in between the metal rainbows, circling downwards slowly. The arches seemed to be gathered around a central point, each lane of arches opening up a pathway towards the center, inviting newcomers inside. It was in one of these lanes that Harry flew, under arches, one after another, steadily making his way towards the most sacred spot where the Na'vi said they could actually speak with Eywa.

When Harry first saw it he was unsure as to what it actually was. Sitting in the center of a circling valley, cliffs rising up all around it, protected by a series of rock-metal arches emanating from a single point like the wireframe structure of a sphere, glowing with ethereal light, were a willow-like tree. Its coral colored vines hung down from its branches, protecting the inner area of the tree like a bride's veil protecting her blush. The tree was perfect, protected by nature itself, guarding an innocence that no human had seen for hundreds of years. The tree was nature embodied; pure, unadulterated, and unmolested.

Harry could feel something coming from the Tree of Souls. Its hanging pink fingers vibrated in harmony, producing a wave of emotion and sympathy that caused a stirring in the cavity of his chest. Somehow Harry knew the tree, knew it had a purpose similar to his own. But the purpose it caused within him was far older than his time on Pandora. Atan'iti turned and looked at him with concern. Harry had unknowingly gripped her tighter as he felt the Tree of Souls silently whispering within him.

"Are you well, Harry Potter?"

Harry shook his head. "Something is wrong."

Atan'iti looked concerned as her cinched together, "Vitraya Ramunong can cause such feelings, and Eywa must have a strong message for you to try to be speaking out so soon. We must discover your purpose quickly. It is more important than both of us know."

Atan'iti guided Txe'lan down at the edge of the clearing, at the edge of the zone where the Tree of Soul's twisting roots covered the ground. Harry looked closely at the roots before him. They were strangely thin and soft, similar to the look of the dangling willow branches coming from the tree itself. He leaned down and saw that the roots seemed to contain small pores similar to the dipping eyes of a potato or carrot. Jake and Neytiri landed their ikran as well.

"Are you nervous, Harry?" Jake asked. He seemed to be slightly put off that Harry hadn't been required to prove he was special after Neytiri had said Eywa would speak with him. For Neytiri that was enough, and Atan'iti already considered Harry special. To Jake, however, a leader and warrior concerned with the physical wellbeing of his tribe, Harry had not proven himself.

Harry looked at the Tree of Souls, how its pink, glowing strands swayed slightly in the still air. "Yes, I'm ready."

"Remove your shoes, Harry Potter," Neytiri said. "You are on holy ground now."

Harry did, and the four set out over the soft roots. Harry decided that the roots felt like grass, soft and forgiving under his feet. His footprints were a blue glow as he walked, the flexible root bouncing back to its former shape with nothing but a burst of light in protest. The willowy strands were closer now, and Harry's apprehension was building. The vibrating in his chest was stronger, and he wanted badly to turn around. The Tree of Souls was the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. It called to him in a seductive whisper that he felt in his being instead of in his ears. It was a terrifying whisper, and Harry wasn't sure he would survive walking through the dangling vines, looking so much like a jellyfish's deadly tentacles. The three Na'vi ahead passed through the Tree's veil and turned to wait for Harry to pass. He had stopped, mere feet from the outer wall that its vines created.

"Come, Harry," Atan'iti said encouragingly. "Eywa will not harm you." Atan'iti's tail was not swaying behind her.

Harry took a deep breath, hoping to push out the dread that had seated itself between his lungs, closed his eyes, and stepped into tentacles of the Tree of Souls. He felt them brush against his face, cool and smooth, and they moved aside as he walked through the veil. When he felt that he had passed the tentacles he opened his eyes with a smile on his face, but did not see Atan'iti there with an encouraging gesture. Instead he saw a human woman in a lab coat standing alone where the three Na'vi should have been. "Hello, Harry," said Grace Augustine, "Have you come to destroy Pandora, as you destroyed Earth all those years ago?"

Harry looked at the dead scientist, both shocked at her presence and appalled at her question. His mouth was open, hanging loosely by the skin of his cheeks as he started at the woman who had been dead for eighteen years, according to his datapad.

"Dead? Yes I body I am dead. But the way in which I died has forever linked me to Pandora, to the unity you know as Eywa. Now, Eywa's question still stands, Harry Potter, are you here to destroy us?"

"No!" shouted Harry. "I want to help you! I came here to find out how to do that."

"Help? That is not what we expected." Grace looked momentarily confused but then her expression cleared. "Your form of help is not welcome. Our keepers can deal with the humans themselves."

"_My_ form of help? What are you talking about? Are you Grace Augustine or Eywa?"

"I am Grace Augustine, and I am also Eywa," she replied. "I died attempting to travel through the Eye of Eywa. I am the first human to be integrated into the living consciousness of Pandora." She looked very proud of herself.

So the form in front of Harry actually was Grace, but simultaneously Eywa. But what did they mean by Harry's form of help? Something wasn't right. "What do you mean my form of help? What have I done to hurt Pandora?"

"You have done nothing to upset the balance of Pandora, Harry Potter. But you have failed at your role as wizard on Earth. Your kind lost their way in their role of the Balance of Earth, and now you have come to do the same to us. You are not welcome."

"How did I fail Earth? I _destroyed_ Voldemort? It was my destiny! What more do you expect?"

"Just because it was your destiny does not make it right or just, Harry Potter. You destroyed the very last thing that would have saved humans from destroying themselves."

"Voldemort was a murderer!"

Grace shook her head, loose red hair slapping her cheeks as it escaped her bun. "Voldemort was Balance. Do you truly not know why you exist? Why wizards existed?"

"Voldemort…" Harry shook his head. "Voldemort was evil."  
"Tell me this then, Harry Potter. Is it better to kill thousands to save billions, or better to kill one and kill billions? Voldemort was a murderer, but he was also Nature's last attempt to restore balance to itself. Voldemort would have killed thousands, but eventually he would have died."

"And how would that have saved billions?" Harry asked. "Humans doomed themselves with technology! Voldemort has nothing to do with that."

"Voldemort would have restored order, restored the wizard to its proper place on Earth. Do you truly not know your role, Harry Potter?"

Harry shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. Grace was unrelenting, "Eywa is balance on Pandora. The Na'vi are the agents of that balance. Together all the living things on this moon survive, and will continue surviving on forever. Nature is not destroyed by this balance, but reinforced. That is the natural order of life in the universe. Each planet has balance. Each planet has an agent to keep that balance.

"Earth's agent of balance was magic and wizards. It was your duty to advise humans. Do you not know the story of Merlin, advisor to King Arthur? That was your role on Earth, Harry Potter. Voldemort would have killed, yes, but he would also have reestablished the wizard's role as advisor. Magic replaces technology, and Earth would still be alive if wizards had not festered among themselves. You wizards left the humans to hoard knowledge, and you personally destroyed the last balance. You were the wisdom of Earth, but you hid yourselves. Knowledge without wisdom is the most dangerous force in the universe."

"That's not possible," Harry said. But even as he denied it, he knew. Wizards never needed technology because they had magic. If they had shared that gift with the Muggles then the world wouldn't have had to invent itself into extinction. Voldemort… Voldemort was evil, but he would have also stopped the Muggles from killing their own planet. The real agent that destroyed the Earth was… himself.

"Now you see, Harry Potter," Grace said. "Your help is not welcome in Pandora because you do not know your role. You have forgotten. Your race has forgotten. You are purposeless and blind, and that is dangerous. Your aspirations will manifest as the wind blows, fickle and powerful, ultimately destructive to the balance around you."

"No…" Harry backed away from Grace Augustine and away from Eywa. Now he understood the feeling in his chest.

Grace blinked, and her hard face softened, just a bit. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said, more kindly than the icy recital she carried before. "I don't agree with Eywa, but I am not strong enough to sway such a deep opinion. However… there is one thing I can do for you." She looked at Harry and smiled, her hard face softening with the rising of her cheekbones. "I can do is give you a tool to help you get back on your feet. That London hillside all those years ago knocked you down, and now I hope you have the strength to get back up. Pandora desperately needs it." She leaned in, and even though she was ten feet away from Harry, her voice was right in his ear. "Eywa is not all-knowing. Do me a favor and prove her wrong."

Grace disappeared and in her place were Jake, Neytiri, and Atan'iti. At first he saw Atan'iti looking at him with the same, worried look she had before he had attempted to pass through the veil of the Tree of Souls. Immediately he saw the three Na'vi expressions change to distress and horror. Eywa had told them Harry wasn't welcome.

Neytiri was the first to speak, "You are an enemy of Eywa!" she shouted. "Leave Vitraya Ramunong, now!"

Harry turned and ran, still entangled within the center of the veil of the Tree. He sprinted out, but felt one of the glowing vines wrap around his arm from his momentum. He burst out, running over the soft roots with blue steps, toward the ikran and away from the horrible rejection of Pandora. A tug at his arm, and Harry heard a snap and then a cry of distress from behind him; Neytiri's cry of distress. Looking at his arm, he saw one of the pink vines from the Tree of Souls wrapped around it, dangling behind him. He had accidentally torn it in his haste to escape the center of the veil. He had been rejected by Eywa, and desecrated Atan'iti's, all of the Na'vi, holiest site.

*

The return trip was one of absolute silence, besides the wind. Even Txe'lan let out no sounds and flew Harry and Atan'iti quietly back to Hell's Gate. Atan'iti said nothing to Harry, letting him climb behind her and hold himself on without any reaction. She looked at him once; her face alert and eyebrows down, eyes squinted just slightly. Harry had given her the broken vine before they took off and she accepted it silently, coiling it with a gentle hand and thoughtful expression.

They landed and Harry looked at the three Na'vi. Jake met Harry's glance at level, his face blank. Neytiri refused to meet his gaze, looking off to the side from the moment they landed. Atan'iti had sadness to her, perhaps a disappointment. After only a few seconds Jake gathered his wife and called for his daughter so they could start the flight back to Hometree. Atan'iti looked to make sure her parents weren't watching, then quickly handed Harry something wrapped in healthy green leaves. "Don't open it until you are alone," she said. Then she turned and joined her parents. Without another word, they took off, leaving Harry in the failing light of dusk.

Harry returned to his room without speaking to anyone, ignoring the questions of those who attempted to find out where he had gone. Safely on his bunk bed, Harry unwrapped the leafy package. In his hands was the carefully coiled vine of the Tree of Life, thin and glowing, lighting the dead concrete walls with the glow of Pandora.


	9. Whittle Wizard

Harry Potter hadn't slept since his arrival on Pandora. Not one wink. When the dusky glow of night came, Harry's eyes never drooped and his mind never became groggy. Perhaps it was the years of stillness in the nothingness, charging and overcharging Harry with a pent-up energy that he was just now expelling, but he couldn't be sure. The nights of practicing and searching his books, and sometimes searching outside the compound, were relaxing and not unpleasant.

For a few hours Harry just sat on his bunk, staring at the glowing vine and thinking about the harsh words of Eywa. She believed he could do nothing to help Pandora, but how could she possibly know that? Grace had said as much, Eywa was balance– she was not God, not omnipresent. From what Harry had understood about Grace and Eywa, not even every aspect of the spirit agreed with itself. The vine was a gift from Grace, a part of Eywa, and even though he had no idea what to do with it, it gave him hope. That hope was enough to continue trying.

Harry worked through his emotional discord in those hours of the night, processing and archiving Eywa's information and accusations in accordance with the practices of a good Occlumens. Harry could see now how Voldemort could have fixed the balance that had been lost on Earth, but there was no way Harry could have known the destruction he was accidently causing him. Did Harry still cause the damage? Yes, he did. But was he to blame? That depended on who was asked. Balance was violent and cared little for the individual. The survival of the global ecosystem was the dominant concern, and so individual justice for Harry had been thrust aside by Eywa's all-consuming desire for Pandora's continual harmony.

But Harry knew still had much to offer Pandora. The exodus of the human race in search for more worlds to mine and destroy was his fault, whether he knew it at the time or not, and so it was his responsibility to fix. Harry could almost hear Hermione in his head, "Besides, your saving people thing wouldn't allow anything else." Harry chuckled. He had come to understand himself over the course of the war, and finally accepted that he did tend to rush into something when someone he loved was at risk. And reciprocal or not, Harry loved Pandora.

Harry took his Animagus guide from its place of honor at the bedside table and began to read, rubbing the silky thin coil of vine between his fingers with gentleness. The vine glowed warm and it was a comfortable reminder of those who he hoped would support him. The night was young, and Harry was not going to stop until his door began banging for his presence the next morning.

*

"What happened last night, Harry?" Norm asked after Harry permitted him in the next morning. Around dawn the morning showers began to pour. Pandora was almost completely rainforest, after all, but today they decided to stay on for longer than normal. The rain slapped against Harry's glass ceiling peek, but it wasn't gloomy. Harry could imagine the activity in the jungle, the flora and creatures enjoying the cleansing rain.

"Eywa wanted to talk to me," Harry said.

"Jake told me as much," Norm replied, letting out a trailing breath. "Look, Harry, you're a strange case and right now there's _stuff_ that has to be dealt with." He closed the door for privacy. "The Na'vi are not happy with you, saying you are an enemy of Eywa and all that. Now I haven't seen you do anything but admire Pandora, so I don't know what is going on with that, but it's a serious accusation coming from the Na'vi."

"Yeah," Harry said. "Eywa doesn't like me because of my ties with Earth. She considers me to be 'unredeemed' as compared to you guys who have lived here for so long. I was really hoping to leave my past behind when I arrived here."

Norm nodded his head, seeming to understand Harry's desire, "Jake said the same thing, and we both believe that you don't want to hurt anything, but unfortunately Jake is the only one who sides with is as far as the Na'vi."

"So I can't go out into Pandora? I'm stuck here?"

"It might be more serious than that," Norm said. "Neytiri feels very strongly that you will only bring destruction, and she wishes us to stop housing you in Hell's Gate."

"What?" Harry shouted.

"Don't worry, we're trying our best to calm her down, but it would be best if you stayed out of her sight today. She and Jake arrived this morning to speak with us concerning you, and Max and I will do our very best to calm her down."

"What if she doesn't calm down?"

Norm smiled, "Neytiri is the spiritual leader, but Jake controls the warriors. Jake knows that you're still just a kid and wouldn't leave you at the mercy of Pandora. But you're right… the jungle may become permanently off-limits for the foreseeable future."

Harry nodded his head in defeat, hoping to satisfy Norm's requirement of obedience. He knew that Norm was stuck in between accepting his Na'vi allies demands and following his own gut, and Harry felt bad for putting him in the situation. "As long as I'm here tensions with the Na'vi are going to be high, aren't they?"

"Yes," he said. "But don't think for a second I am contemplating throwing you out there." Harry nodded and was glad that Norm took his question the wrong way. He didn't _want _to stay in Hell's Gate, and would be getting out as soon as he felt he was safe… however long he took to accomplish that feat. Pandora was dangerous, and Harry's situation would have to improve drastically before he felt he could venture out by himself. But that was his goal.

"Thanks, Norm."

The older man smiled, "Sure, Harry. Now stay here and let me deal with that big blue couple out there. Jake might want to speak with you before they leave."

After Norm left Harry closed the door and returned to the book he had hidden under his bedcovers. It had been another night of studious sleeplessness, but Harry was wide awake. He reread the section he had been on before and concentrated. After a few moments of mental wrestling and beaded sweat, Harry heard the warmth and swoosh that indicated he had been successful. At Hogwarts he had never been too successful at Transfiguration. But here, on Pandora, surrounded by the natural beauty that was already feeling more like _home_ than any place in his before-life, Harry was beginning to discover that he was quite adept at the subject.

In place of his right arm, tipped with curved raptor-like claws, were two black, muscle-ridden arms. He flexed his phantom hand and both of the forepaws (he thought they were forepaws) flexed in unison. They were burnished black skin, shined with a polished and gleamed like amphibian skin. The claws were easily three inches long, and sharp, black like the rest of his transformation. They were set in a triangular configuration like bird's feet, with three digits in front and one digit in the rear, great for grasping the limbs of trees, and probably the limbs of prey as well. Harry smiled, and with a bit more concentration, brought his arm back to normal. Yes, he was a natural at transfiguration here on Pandora, and while Harry had no idea what animal he was becoming, he knew it was more deadly than any creature that had existed on Earth.

Harry continued on reading for the next few hours, but never attempted another step in the Animagus transfiguration. He had to be sure that everything he attempted would be relatively safe, as he had no backup plan if something went wrong. So he read each chapter carefully, three times, and skimmed the chapter after it to ensure that bad writing hadn't left something important to his attempts in later chapters that he hadn't read yet. Also, Harry had spent half the night reading through the entire manual, as well. With each pass he felt he understood the theory better, comprehending _why_ the manual structured the exercises and steps as it had, and how it related to his progress. Hogwarts had long since taught him that magic was far more than remembering the proper steps for producing desired results. Magic was about comprehension and understanding of its orderliness and living nature. Most importantly, it was about understanding what the caster, what Harry, desired to do with his power. At first Harry hated the theory behind magic, and despised the teachers that forced him to read for hours or even entire class periods before attempting a spell or transfiguration. In his last years he finally began to understand. Harry had to understand the nature of magic, and how he intereacted with it, to truly be successful. Practical experience was important, of course, but only after the understanding of the process. So Harry read, and thought, then read, and reflected. Finally, sometime later, he would try.

Sometime later when the rain had stopped knocking on his skylight a knock came from the door instead. Jake opened the door and stooped into his room. Harry had safely tucked the book under his bed sheets and was sitting up by the time Jake had entered. "Harry."

"So what's the decision?"

Jake's bioluminescence shifted red for a second before turning back off, betraying his hot emotions. "You'll stay here, of course. The Na'vi do not murder, and that includes dumping the undeserving to the mercy of Pandora."

"But I'm an enemy, apparently," Harry said.

"You are dangerous, somehow," Jake said, shaking his head. "That is different than being an enemy. You haven't done anything, yet, and I won't condemn based solely on the capacity to do something. We are all capable of doing horrible things."

"I see," Harry said. "So, we're okay?"

"What were you going to tell me yesterday? What does my daughter know that she refuses to tell me?"

Harry looked at Jake and shook his head slightly, "I can still see the human reason in you, and that alone stops me from telling you."

Jake frowned and his skin flashed again. Was he getting angry? "Did you know that lying is something that humans introduced to the Na'vi? I built my relationship with Neytiri on a lie, and will be eternally grateful for her forgiveness. My daughter has never lied to me, and now that it's happened I'm not surprised my old life is involved."

Harry felt sorry for Jake. Not having the trust of his daughter must be hard. "I'm sorry that this is how things have turned out, but don't think she is lying to you. She had not denied she knows; she only realizes that my secret is not her secret to share. That's a big difference from a lie."

"Maybe," Jake said, taking in Harry's words. "Trust and confidence is a big part of the Na'vi family. My daughter thinks very highly of you to keep your secrets, Harry Potter. She keeps your trust, but if you break hers, I will see personally educate you on how much the Na'vi value it."

"I understand, sir," Harry said.

"No you don't. Not yet." Jake had a package in his hand which he set down on Harry's desk with hesitancy. "I used to be a Marine when I was human, Harry. The Na'vi in me is telling me not to give this to you, but the Marine in me says to take all the help I can get, no matter how unusual the source."

"What is in the package, sir?" Harry asked.

"It is a gift from my daughter. She says it will help you help us, and I'm not above breaking tradition for help against the RDA." Jake turned to leave and crouched under the frame of the door. "Harry? You had better hope we all get killed if I find out you tricked my daughter."

Jake closed the door behind him and Harry picked up the package, curious. For being banished, the Na'vi sure were giving him a lot of help. That wasn't true, actually. The only people that had helped him had some connection to humanity. Grace was the sole human aspect of the spirit-collection known as Eywa, Jake was a human mind in a Na'vi body, and Atan'iti… she was a human sympathizer, and one quarter human anyways.

Harry unwrapped the package. It was a branch, straight and flexible, half-inch thick, freshly picked from the mysterious Hometree. Atan'iti really had pulled through for him. Harry's eyes widened and he turned and fell on his knees, reaching under the bunk bed for the vine from the Tree of Souls. He was confused about the purpose of Grace's help, but now... He got back up and laid the vine coil next to the Hometree wood, and already he felt the harmonious power coming from the pieces as they sat in proximity. Here were the materials for his brand new wand.

Harry set to work immediately, bolted his door shut, opened _Most Potente Potions_, and flipped to the section on wand making. He read, his face close enough to the page for the words to begin to blur. As he read the section describing the actual crafting of the wand his face fell. The sealing of the core inside the wand required a potion of moderate difficulty. Harry might actually have had the ingredients, but the trunk was definitely ruined by now. Even if the animals and curious Na'vi left it alone, the rainwater would have flooded the crater and destroyed its contents, potions included. So once again he was stuck. The only thing that Harry could possibly accomplish was the Animagus transformation, and that in itself was extremely dangerous without a wand or knowledgeable witch or wizard to fix bad attempts. He had no wand now, and most certainly had no witch or wizard.

He began to shut the book, slowly this time because he had damaged his Metamorphmagus guide, and stopped when the top page fell before the others. An alternate sealing technique was described, one that didn't involve potions. Instead, it simply involved a sacrifice on the part of the wizard to seal and bond the wand to him or herself, ensuring that the wand would pick them. This technique was for those who wished to make one wand for themselves and ensure they would be compatible. The other way was for wand makers who wished to run a business. Harry read again, dipping his nose just above the page as he had before. He finished the section, and then finished the chapter on wand making. He sat back and looked at his materials, smiling. It was possible. There were no other hurdles that would stop him from creating a fully working, guaranteed compatible wand for himself.

The first step was to carve. Harry borrowed a particularly sharp knife from the utility room and practiced on a fallen piece of wood outside. It was barely morning and he spoke to no one, and no one spoke to him, aware that something had happened between him and the Na'vi but unsure of the details. It was a combination that caused avoidance, and right now that was best for Harry.

His first few attempts were feeble and downright dangerous. Harry had almost stabbed himself in the stomach before he realized that pushing the blade away from his body was safer and more effective. He looked at the whittled shaft of wood. It had a thick handle that tapered unevenly down to a point, with no form or symmetry. He had tried to create a clean drop from the handle to the shaft of the wand, but ended up gouging the wood with his knife. He discovered halfway through that controlling the knife with his fingers and pressing it carefully into his thumb was a better way to control detailed carves.

His second attempt was greatly improved and he had managed to create a clean distinction between the handle and the shaft, but still found his work uneven and unskilled. Gouges lined the wand where he had cut at too sharp an angle, dragging the knife down into the wood, into where his uncomprehendingly valuable wand core would have been. After he had made that gouge he threw the wand aside in disgust.

And so the process continued onto his fourth, fifth, and sixth mock wands, his results improving with each attempt. The sun began to set as he finished the seventh wand, and Harry was actually happy with the result. With a bit of sanding and a coat of varnish the seventh attempt would have made a simple, functional wand. But carving disposable branches and his irreplaceable Hometree branch were two different things. Harry decided that he would practice the next step in the wand making process on his carving attempts - drilling the hole for the core.

Drilling the holes had been easier than he thought, and with a bit of help from the colonists in the fabrication room, he had been successful each time. They had asked what the purpose of his strange sticks was, and Harry just said that he was practicing on a present for someone, but couldn't say who. The lie was simple enough, and they didn't look into motives more sinister. It was, after all, just a bit of woodworking.

Harry locked the door that night with an excitement for the following sunrise, cracking open his Animagus guide with high hopes. He had decided that his routine was not a bad one- Animagus training at night and wand making (hopefully wand using) during the day. He still had not slept one minute since his arrival, and felt no need to. Rest was for the weary, it was for the dead. Harry hadn't felt more alive in two centuries.


	10. Pandora Conquered

Harry left his room soon after dawn, eating breakfast as the morning showers abated. There were a few others eating, the early risers like himself, but no one sat near him or attempted to speak with him. The day before he had been an excited fury and excluded all external considerations that distracted him from his goal of creating a new wand. Yesterday that had been his only thought and he pursued it single-mindedly. Today it was still his goal, hopefully the summation of his efforts, but the cold looks and silent voices of the other colonists began to seep into his conscious as yesterday's mental shell began to break apart. People didn't like him.

Harry left the airlock soon after breakfast, his Hometree branch hidden safely under his invisibility cloak. He laughed, realizing that he had used his cloak more often to smuggle illicit material than to make himself invisible. It was indicative of the horrible limitations of living in Hell's Gate. The creation of his wand would be the first step away, and the successful completion of his Animagus transformation would be the last.

The warm Pandoran sun was breaking through the morning clouds as Harry sat down in the spot that he had practiced carving yesterday. He was about to unwrap his Hometree branch when Celia Spellman, Norm's daughter, sat down beside him, rebreather in place.

"Hi, Harry!" she said as she sat down next to him. Harry had spent a few minutes admiring a Prolemuris, a monkey-like creature with arms that bisected at the elbow into two sets of forearms. Its skin was rubbery, like many of the creatures on Pandora. Harry had yet to see a furry creature, and he thought it was due to the warm climate and daily rainfall. Fur wasn't a good mix with the weather on Pandora. Celia had approached noisily and scared the Prolemuris away without noticing its presence.

"Hi, Celia. How are you?" he said.

"I'm okay. A bit confused about yesterday, though."

"Why's that?" Harry hadn't really paid attention to the mood of Hell's Gate the day before, intent on other things.

"You haven't heard?" The Na'vi children didn't come to the school yesterday. Dad spoke with the Olo'eyktan and he says none of the Na'vi wish to bring their children to learn anymore. They say that the Na'vi refuse to see us as long as you are here."

Harry nodded. He wasn't surprised. Eywa had a strong connection to all Na'vi, and he had been condemned. Why would parents knowingly send their children near someone who was dangerous? "I see."

"No one is happy with you right now, and it doesn't help that we have no idea what you did," Celia continued.

"I can see how that's a tough thing to get past," Harry said. He wished Celia would make her point and leave.

"Maybe if they knew what happened, if I told everyone, then people might be more understanding."

So that was it. She was curious as to what he had done. "I'm sorry Celia, but that's between the Na'vi and me."

"Hmm," she looked thoughtful, disappointed… and something else. "Did it involve the Olo'eyktan's daughter?"

"You mean Atan'iti? No it has nothing to do with her." She was looking at him intently and he was beginning to get uncomfortable. "Can I, err, help you with something?"

"What're you doing out here?" Celia asked, ignoring Harry's question. "You were out here all yesterday."

"I'm working on something," Harry replied. He was starting to find Celia rather annoying, like an older, female Colin Creevey. She was very pretty, with sandy hair like her father, a small nose, and a slender neck, but she was too pushy and talkative.

"On what? It must be important if you've spent a whole day on it."

"It is important, and it's also personal."

Harry caught her eyes and held his gaze, challenging her to push further. She declined the bait and stood, dusting off her shorts. Harry realized that her short jeans revealed long, smooth legs. He gulped as she walked away, thankful that he had been focusing on the Prolemuris when she sat down, or he may have accidentally revealed something in his fluster.

Putting the matter of Celia back in his mind, along with her comments about the enmity of the colonists, Harry began the careful task of carving the Hometree branch. He had already cut off a piece of the proper size, about thirteen inches, and set to carving out the handle. He took careful, measured strokes with the freshly sharpened knife. He was surprised at how much different this wood was than the branches that he had used yesterday. The Hometree branch cut more smoothly, more easily, and Harry made sure to use shallower cuts. It would take him much longer, but he couldn't afford to make a mistake. The Hometree branch cut too easily, and the cuts he had been using yesterday were bound to gouge the wood, eventually. Harry finished off the handle with small, rounding slices, smoothing out the square shaping cuts that he had made to form the handle.

Satisfied that the handle was ready for sanding, he moved onto the shaft of the wand- the more difficult of the two steps. He took long, smooth, and shallow strokes away from his body, the wood curling up behind his knife before it broke off from the quickly forming wand to join its brother curls as scraps on the ground. Harry made the cuts feather light, veneer thin, and slowly the straight rod began to taper and smooth down to a tip. Harry spent another half hour, rotating, running the knife steadily from handle to tip, viewing the cut from every angle, and making another.

Soon the wand had formed completely, and Harry gathered the scraps and ran back inside. He went into the fabrication room and painstakingly drilled the hole for the core, stopping a half inch shy of the tip as _Moste Potente _Potions instructed. The hole drilled, Harry ran back to his room with the finished wand, the woodworking knife, and bandages, sealing his door shut behind him. The wand core was to be exactly one inch shorter than the wand, and so Harry measured out twelve inches of Soul Vine and cut it with the razor sharp knife. Harry inserted the core into the center of the wand, and laid it out on a clean bandage.

Taking a deep breath, Harry ran the knife across his palm as he slowly moved it back and forth over the wand, letting his blood drip down. It soaked into the wood with a soft _woosh_ and Harry continued to squeeze out his blood until the wand turned from its ivory white to bloody amber. The magic in his blood fused with the Hometree wood, creating a protective coat that sealed the wood from moisture and damage, and sealed the wand core inside the wand. Harry wrapped his hand in another bandage and picked up his new wand. It was warm and dry, the smooth blood lacquer sealing it better than any actual wood sealant. The hole for the core had magically been resealed, showing only smooth, undrilled wood where the hole had been, so perfect that even the curve of the grain was untouched.

The warmth of the wand spread into his loose fingers, recreating the feeling that Harry had felt in Olivander's shop during the summer before his first year. Even before casting a spell, Harry knew that the wand had chosen him. "_Lumos!" _His wand lit the concrete gloom not a bright white, but a blood red. Harry had to shield his eyes from the fiery torch. A wide grin split his face. "I'm back!"

*

The next few weeks were spent practicing and familiarizing himself with magic once again. It had been a long time since Harry had held a wand in his hands, and a period of transition and training was necessary. During the nights, Harry still hadn't gotten sleepy yet, he read the his books, and during the day, he snuck out into the jungle under the cover of his invisibility cloak to practice. The dangers of the Pandoran jungle, while not too extreme while Harry was protected under his cloak, was much more apparent during his stay throughout the day.

At first he went to the now-abandoned school to train, but was quickly driven away by sparrow-sized Hellfire Wasps. Harry escaped without receiving a sting by hitting the most aggressive wasp with a lucky _stupefy!_ The next day, after reading up on repelling wards in his defense books (the book with the wards immediately went into the Useful pile), Harry went to the waterfall island that Atan'iti had shown him during their first meeting. The insects seemed repelled by the water, and the simple notice-me-not ward kept other creatures from investigating Harry's magical light show.

His private practice spot secured, Harry began practicing his spells in earnest, rebuilding and refreshing his knowledge of magic to combat the upcoming battle. By the end of each day Harry had a good layer of sweat on him, despite the waterfall so close by, blowing water-cooled air at his back as he worked. Magic with all its willpower and deep concentrated understanding was not easy work, but each sunset Harry felt more capable and more confident than the previous, and he began to wonder when he could leave Hell's Gate forever. Because he hadn't just been practicing silly wand waving. Every third day Harry dedicated to his Animagus transformation.

At the fifteenth day, the fifth day dedicated to his Animagus transformation, Harry landed on the small island in front of the waterfall, and recharged the simple ward he had erected two weeks earlier. In accordance with his handbook, Harry looked at the nature that surrounded him, the water that flowed around both sides of the small sliver of land that made up his island, diamond shaped and carved to a tip by the quickly moving currents. On the island were a collection of spiral ferns and small shrubbery, including a few giant mushrooms. Harry sat on his rock, which was partially sunk into the loamy soil, and stared at the patch of bioluminescent upon which Atan'iti had sat when he confessed the world of magic. He hadn't seen her for two weeks, and her absence was the only thing that caused him sadness. She was his only real friend here, the only one who knew his secret in full, and he probably wouldn't see her for a long time. The Na'vi rarely visited Hell's Gate now because of Harry. Only Jake came to discuss plans against the RDA with Norm and Max- plans that Harry was not invited to partake in.

Norm and Max had approached Harry on his third evening returning from his training. He had just taken a shower and put on clean clothes when they knocked on his door. "Harry? Can we talk for a moment?"

"Yes." Harry had been twirling his blood red wand in his fingers when they knocked, and had just barely slipped it under the covers of the bunk.

"My daughter says you've disappeared all day for a few days now. We're wondering what you've been doing. You will have to begin working at something for the benefit of the colony, and disappearing to do your own thing doesn't count."

So Celia had been looking for him every day? Wonderful, Harry thought. "I'm sorry about that. It's just that Pandora is so amazing that I can't stay inside during the day. I have to go outside and look around."

"And have you been going into the jungle?" Max asked.

Harry's sheepish blush gave him away before he could lie, "I know it's dangerous... but yeah. Not far though! I just can't resist."

Norm and Max didn't like that answer. "We told you it was dangerous, Harry! The perimeter of Hell's Gate is the only place on Pandora that is relatively safe for someone who isn't Na'vi or in a walker suit, and we aren't allowed to use those anymore."

Harry made sure he looked defeated. "I understand."

"We can't stop you from going out there. Everyone at Hell's Gate has a job and it isn't anyone's job to keep you safe but your own. You have to do your part here, so tomorrow I want you to find Celia tomorrow and help her take care of the children."

"Okay."

Of course the next day Harry had not sought out Celia, instead going out into the jungle to practice his magic. Harry _was_ helping the colony! He was helping the colony, the Na'vi, and Pandora by getting used to his magic again in preparation for RDA contact, most likely in the form of a fight. Helping Celia watch the other kids was not going to help him prepare for that. So Harry used his invisibility cloak to dodge Celia and dodge questions and to escape each day to his island.

Harry sat on his rock and removed his shoes and socks, letting his feet dig into the soft sand. He closed his eyes and opened his ears to the wild sounds of Pandora, the insects and animal calls ringing outside of his little island haven. The Animagus guide repeated over and over that Harry had to familiarize himself with nature, and to spend as much time as he could outdoors in the natural environment. On top of that, he was supposed to _familiarize_ himself with the outdoors as intimately as he could, using as many senses as he could. Harry's toes sank into the sand- touch. Harry could hear the animals calling outside of his warded shell- sound. He could smell the dampness of the water and the toxic scents from the giant mushrooms nearby- smell. Opening his eyes, he saw the aquarium-like waters, flowing clear with vibrant, glowing plants, corals and anemones, and strange double-finned fish. Everything glowed in the water, dimly during the day, but it still lit up the shadows and cracks of the Pandoran coral with a source less light.

Harry felt properly prepared. He closed his eyes again an concentrated on the transformation, keeping the environment around him immediate, trying to integrate himself with the order that surrounded him. He had not attempted anything further than transforming his arms into the creature's strange double forelimbs, but hopefully today that was going to change. He concentrated on himself as much as the nature that he struggled to keep close. Harry visualized the two aspects, his self and the nature around him, struggled hold both in his hands. He had to take the two and merge them together, merge his soul into nature, to unlock his Animagus.

The thoughts of the Dementors during his third year came back to him, how they were so close to sucking his soul from his body, and remembered the small white fire he had seen dance in front of his eyes. That was his soul. Harry remembered it, pictured it, and felt it. He grasped it in his left hand.

His toes were sunk into the beach sand, wet but not cold, and he felt the fine grit of the grains scratching his skin. The air blew cool from the waterfall, still sagging from moisture, and he could hear the flying creatures cut through the thick air. The poisonous odor of the mushrooms struck him, surrounded him, and Harry struggled to wrap himself around it all. He imagined everything he could sense in the center, and wrapped his right arm around it, encompassing it. It shrank into a ball, a purple glow, and he grasped it in his right hand. Then, before he lost his old on either aspect, he took his hands and clapped them together.

An acute pain struck Harry's spine as the white and purple meshed in his mind's eye, and he felt himself growing and elongating, turning to land on his six paws. Paws? He opened his eyes and the world had changed. First, the island he was on was much smaller than he remembered it being a few minutes ago, the diamond in the center of the river had shrunk as if it had suffered a few hundred years more of erosion. The giant mushrooms which had been level with Harry's eyes were now below him, and the rock upon which he was sitting, Harry now knew he could easily uproot. "What am I?" Harry said aloud, but instead of hearing his own voice, he heard a menacing, catlike growl. It was low and rumbling, with a quiet Parseltongue hiss at the end. Harry rushed over to the water at the island's far end, where the water was caught in an eddy and allowed for a reflective surface to appear. He peered down at his face and saw a ferocious row of teeth and small, evil eyes. They were the eyes that he had seen on Atan'iti's banshee the first time she had met her, but Harry was not a banshee. He was a land creature, a huge one, strong and predatory. He hadn't heard of any predators of this size. Harry had no bubblehead charm surrounding his new face, complete with rows of sharp, curving teeth, strange quills on his head that reminded him of the feather headdresses the American Indians wore, and his evil eyes. The heavy Pandoran air was sucked into his lungs through dorsal channels behind his head, and it nourished his body, pure and unfiltered.

Harry was about to change back when new, powerful senses struck him. The nature around him opened up, bare to his newfound comprehension. He could smell the fish swimming in the water, darting away from the new, vicious predator. Off across the water he could hear a small band of Prolemuris monkeys swinging through the trees and a Hexapede rummaging around in the brush, feeding. Pandora was laid bare to Harry's new senses, the quills on his head exposing the area like never before. Change back? Harry laughed in a loud, hissing call at the thought of changing back just now. Off in the bushes the Hexapede fled in graceful, terrified hops and the Prolemuris monkeys stopped their playing. Harry was the king, and he was going to spend the day figuring out the extent of his newfound power and dominion.

***

Authors Notes:

Very sorry for the delay, guys! Real life caught up with me and sucked all the free time right out of my days. It was like a free time vampire. Next chapter is going to start off right where this one ended, so don't worry about missing out on Harry's (mis)adventures as he learns about his Animagus form.


	11. Thanator Express

With a snarl of delight Harry leapt into his kingdom, over the rushing water and onto the opposite banks. His four forepaws sank into the sand and his haunches splashed into the cool waters. He moved off the sandy bank, into the jungle. The Hexapede was long gone, but the Prolemuris were still hiding overhead. They had been silent and watchful, but Harry's quills told them they were still there. He could smell their scent. At once the trees began to quiver from their shaking and they called a warning out into the jungle, alerting Harry's subjects to flee from his approach. Harry hissed a laugh. He surely wasn't going to eat anything… at least not right now. The manual said that anything that was eaten in the animal form would be properly digestible and nourishing, but also warned that the Animagus was, by wizarding law, totally responsible for what he did in his Animagus form. Luckily there was no wizarding law left, he thought. Harry smiled and his upper lip retracted, exposing most of his deadly jaw. Before he had been jealous that Atan'iti could show off her sharp incisors. Now… well, Harry was pretty sure he had her beat. He began his prowl through the jungle, learning to keep his steps on the silent moss and his tail rigid and unmoving so he wouldn't strike anything inadvertently.

The Animagus form was the manifestation of Harry's inner self, combined with the power of the natural world. As far as magic was concerned, the world was divided into realms in the same way that Hogwarts was divided into floors and his instruction was divided into subjects. The Sky was one realm, the Earth another, Mankind another, and Ocean yet another. Branches of magic fell into one of the realms. Most branches such as transfiguration and charms fell into the realm of Mankind, as did branches like Occlumency. Other subjects such as potions and the Animagus transformation fell into nature. So along with Harry's form came a connection to nature, an animalistic presence that was now awakened within him. He had created a new aspect within himself as he merged the two parts in his hands, and now, in his animal form, he could feel it talking to him, coaching him on how the animal acted and what it desired.

Fortunately the Animagus manual said that the new aspect was still all Harry, and that there was no fear about it attempting to take over. At worst, the book said that Harry might have short conversations with himself if the new aspect advised to do something that was common for the animal that the wizard wished to avoid, such as chasing and devouring prey. It was that voice that he could hear speaking now. Harry stepped lightly with his six paws, listening to the advice of the animal aspect on how to step, what to look for, how to be a silent hunter. He moved, practiced, and following the promptings of the voice, set out to try and regain the trail of the fleeing Hexapede.

He followed the scent and soon Harry found the Hexapede, grazing almost as calmly as it had been at the shoreline. It was still hundreds of feet away, but Harry knew it was there. The smell warned him, the sound of it pawing the ground to dig up the retracted spiral fern was loud as breaking glass. Harry shook his head and wondered how the species had survived. Perhaps this one was just clumsy and stupid compared to the rest. He was about to sneak up on the poor creature, prompted by the animal aspect, to see if he could successfully pounce on it, when another predator entered his sensory perception. A Na'vi.

He was about to flee when the animal aspect stopped him and suggested that this was a great opportunity to test his ability against a Na'vi hunter. Harry would have to deal with the Na'vi in his form sooner or later, and he didn't know how they would react to him. He was confident that he could escape, if needed, and his curiosity won out. He didn't know where his mysterious predator form matched with the Na'vi. Were they afraid of him, or did they try to use group tactics to kill him? He was confident that one Na'vi could do nothing against him.

It seemed that the hunter was also tracking the noisy Hexapede, and Harry used the hunter's preoccupation to circle around. Twenty feet away, hidden on the other side of a large, vine-covered tree, Harry heard the hunter draw the bow. He let them shoot and kill the Hexapede before moving in. The unaware Na'vi reached the body of the stupid, graceful animal just as Harry emerged from the brush. The hunter was crouched over the Hexapede, speaking in her native tongue to the dead animal. She was female, her body slender and wrapped in the dark blue ribbon patterns. Their skin was rather tiger-like, Harry decided– a graceful, deadly people striped in the skin of a tiger. It suited the Na'vi well. Harry let his presence known to the poor hunter by flexing his forepaws into the dirt, scratching the ground with his claws noisily.

The hunter gasped and spun around, seeing Harry only ten feet behind her. It was Atan'iti. Her eyes widened in fear and she yelled out in her native language. She leaped over her kill, putting it between Harry and herself in an attempt to divert his attention. Harry's animal aspect prompted him to scare her off and eat the Hexapede, and Harry knew that had he been a real animal, it would have worked. Atan'iti stood low behind the Hexapede, stance wide and ready. She had another arrow hitched to the string of her bow, but she hadn't drawn it, hoping to show that she was not a threat. So the Na'vi did not fight Harry's Animagus form. It was good to know.

A new scent covered Harry's sensory quills and he felt ashamed. Atan'iti's fear was strong and clear to him. She was afraid that her life was about to end. Harry's playful, curious mood immediately ended, and he let up on his intimidating stance. He looked into her eyes and they confirmed what his quills had already told him. She was terrified. Remorse at his game hit him and he broke eye contact, letting out a low, mournful growl. Atan'iti flinched at the noise, but when Harry looked back at her she was less afraid. He was acting strange for a king predator, and she wanted to know why. Atan'iti was always curious.

Harry approached slowly, keeping his head down and his sensory quills back. His animal aspect told him that this was the most non-threatening way to look, usually reserved for backing away from a superior opponent. At first Atan'iti backed away, but then she stopped as Harry passed over the corpse of the Hexapede. His head remained down, submissive, and he could see her fear quickly dissipating. His reactions were _bizarre_, and Atan'iti seemed to be thinking very rapidly. Harry's head was now close enough for her to reach out and touch him, and suddenly he saw a comprehension dawn on her face. In the next instant Atan'iti moved to the size, her braid in one hand, and she pushed it up against his neck.

Something new popped into Harry's mind, and he saw the beginnings of another's life. He saw Hometree, saw Jake and Neytiri, listened to the Na'vi language with an understanding he couldn't have possessed. An instant of a vision of Atan'iti's ability, her conquering of her banshee, her resolute desire to subdue the powerful Thanator, just as her mother had done eighteen years ago…

Harry forcefully broke the connection, whipping his head to the side and throwing Atan'iti to the ground in the process. She had bonded with him. Harry had heard of the process, how the Na'vi used it to tame various other animals, to speak with Eywa, and… used it for other things. Had she seen anything of his life? Had his Thanator instincts blocked it? Harry shook his head and hissed in frustration. He knew that he was called a Thanator now, so he had definitely received something from her. How much had she gotten from him?

A groan broke Harry's worries, as he turned to see Atan'iti struggling to rise from the ground. Harry had hurt her in his panic. He approached slowly, and Atan'iti tried to scamper away, unsuccessful. She cried out in pain and Harry saw her twisted foot. He knew why she was afraid. If a Na'vi hunter was unsuccessful in trying to conquer a banshee, the banshee would kill them. Atan'iti thought the same of the Thanator. She had attempted to bond, and Harry had broken it before she could exert her will over him. There was no way she could have won. Harry was not an animal, not in spirit anyways, and his mind had been trained and hammered relentlessly to resist outside influence.

That was it! Harry growled softly at the terrified Atan'iti, lowering his head and pulling back his quills just as he had done before. He took his head and brushed it against her side as he had seen Crookshanks do to Hermione countless times. It was a show of affection, and also a show of trust and camaraderie. He hoped that the gesture was the same on Pandora. Atan'iti stopped her excruciating struggling, and let her broken ankle rest, still painfully twisted. Harry could hear her breathing heavily. He turned and saw her staring at him with eyes opened wide, yellow and searching. _Clear your mind. Never betray your thoughts. They are yours alone._ Harry offered his queue to Atan'iti. She would not make it back to Hometree on her own. It was too far and dusk was approaching too fast.

Atan'iti hesitated and Harry nuzzled her side again, hoping that she understood the gesture. It was alien, he knew. Cats did not exist on Pandora. But he hoped it was enough to get the point across. He felt a soft hand on the top of his head, petting him carefully, with light touches. From one eye Harry saw her grasp her queue again and connect them.

This time the images were less intense, and Harry ignored them as best he could to focus on his Occlumency. He let his thanator aspect out in full, the animal consciousness that would have been guiding a true thanator. Harry was amazed to feel it quickly subdued and controlled by Atan'iti. Now, instead of getting advice from the creature, he could hear the soft, feminine voice of Atan'iti in his head, the voice that was in control of the animal self, and his new advisor.

The feeling was strange. Harry's Occlumency shields were doing their job well, concealing his human consciousness from Atan'iti's notice, and he had been able to witness how the bond would have worked had he been just a thanator. The Na'vi had a will and strength of mind suited for the best wizards, Harry's thanator aspect had been subdued by Atan'iti, and now it was her voice that was coming through the Occlumency barriers. She thought she was speaking to the animal, but Harry was the true listener. She spoke in Na'vi, but in Harry's mind it didn't matter, "Please. Take me back to Hometree." Harry crouched down low and allowed for Atan'iti to climb on his back. She was almost weightless there, barely lowering his ability to run and weave, a true testament to his power.

Once Atan'iti was secure on his back, holding on tightly to the base of where he queue connected to his skull, Harry took off, following the mental directions of his rider. During the ride he noticed how organized her mind was, arranged like the mind of an Occlumens, but it was completely open to him. The Na'vi did not need to conceal, as Jake had explained to him weeks before. The Na'vi did not lie. Was Harry lying to her right now? He pushed the thought out of his mind, focusing instead on helping get Atan'iti safely home. Harry felt a pat between his shoulder blades, "Thank you," Atan'iti said in his mind.

Atan'iti's memories were completely open to him, and Harry was torn between looking at them and respecting her privacy. She did not know that she was exposing herself to another thinking, rationing creature. Thanators were instinctual, and could care less about Atan'iti's family, her friends and rivals, her desires, interests, and fantasies. Harry, however, found the openness of Atan'iti's life alluring.

Harry leaped over a fallen tree and cut between trees, pushing his speed and his abilities to push back the desire to sift through Atan'iti's life. He knew that she was of the age that she was looking for a mate, and it was that one mate that should have access to her memories through the queue and no one else. She did not know she had bonded with Harry, and Harry's Occlumency prevented from her accessing his life. It was proper and chivalrous to leave her life to be examined by her mate, not by him. The jungle fell prey to his speed, and he closed the distance to Hometree quickly. He powered through a grove of spiral ferns, ignoring the usually magnificent way they retracted all at once. "Slightly left," Atan'iti prompted him in his mind. He turned to obey.

Soon the jungle began to thin and Harry could see the towering Hometree rise up between the cracks in the canopy. It was huge, a towering behemoth that rose above the jungle floor. He had seen them on his way in, the huge, unified spots of darker green over the lighter green jungle, breaking through the surface and rising up twofold into the sky.

Harry broke into a grassy field where Na'vi women were gathering fruits for the nightly feast. With them were the children, helping them pick berries, and listening to the women sing songs of Na'vi history, educating the children in the ways of The People. They turned as one to see Harry charging at them at a full run. Screaming and terror ensued, the women grabbing the children and running each in a different direction. Harry felt like a shark in a school of fish, watching the fish use strength in numbers to save themselves. He truly was the king predator. Even the Na'vi bowed to him.

The women stopped their fleeing when they heard Atan'iti call out to them from Harry's back, "It is safe!" She said in Na'vi. Through the queue, Harry understood her meaning. "Do not worry!" Harry ran past the gatherers, picking up incredible speed on the open, grassy field, straight towards Hometree. He could see the other Na'vi staring at him, amazed and transfixed as his speed and grace. Most Na'vi never saw a thanator but once… Harry's sprint was something they might never see again and live to speak of it.

Harry slowed to a walk as they approached the Hometree, prompted by Atan'iti. They didn't want to scare anyone. The Na'vi began to appear in the hundreds, collecting food, gathering materials, working on looms, sewing, and just going about their daily tasks. He even saw one crafting a new hammock; identical to the ones he spied hanging in the branches far above. When people first say Harry they jumped in fear, but then realized that Atan'iti was on his back. They called out to her and asked her questions, but Atan'iti said she had to first tend to her injuries. Through the bond Harry could feel it throbbing more and more. The excitement of the run was over, and the pain was quickly returning to her broken ankle.

By now all of the Na'vi around them had abandoned their work and swarmed around Atan'iti and her new thanator companion. Harry looked at them, uncomfortable that they were pressing in so closely. They might end up bumping Atan'iti's ankle, he thought. He let out a warning hiss and flared his sensory quills. He barred his teeth as well, curling his upper lip to expose the entirety of his jaws. Atan'iti's smiles had been impressive; Harry's smile was deadly. The Na'vi backed off, whispering to one another to disguise the fear that Harry could sense. "Calm down," Atan'iti commanded his thanator self, and Harry reluctantly set his quills back against his neck. He didn't want a scenario where the Na'vi felt that they could touch him like they touched the direhorses, and that called for hissing and aggressive stances. Harry smiled at the thought, revealing his jaw line again. Hissing and aggressive stances were fun!

They reached the base of Hometree where Jake and Neytiri stood, looking upon Atan'iti with shocked eyes. "Hello Mother, Father. My ankle is injured."

Jake helped his daughter down from Harry's back. Compared to the Na'vi, Harry was a huge predator. His shoulder reached seven feet, and his neck and head was just under the height of a male Na'vi– about even with a female. Atan'iti tried to stand on her own before almost falling. It was a bad break, and through their connection Harry could tell that it needed to be elevated. Her pain had increased from when she was sitting on his back. Harry began to paw the ground and shake his head in irritation.

Jake picked up Atan'iti again, holding her in his arms like a bride. Her pain lessened. "Is it safe to break the bond?" Jake asked his daughter. "What will it do once you lose control?"

"I don't know," Atan'iti replied, looking at Harry. Her queue and his were still connected, stranding them together. Harry realized that, to the Na'vi, Atan'iti was in something like a hostage situation. Thanators were not something that a Na'vi tried to bond with, and Harry knew that the only instance in memory was of Neytiri's temporary bonding during the fight with the RDA. That thanator had died, so no one knew if Harry would be dangerous to the Na'vi if the bond was cut, or even if he would still respect Atan'iti.

"Commune with it and ask. It may answer," Neytiri said.

Atan'iti nodded and sent the question over their link. It had no words, and was rather just a collection of thought and image, as if Harry had been thinking it himself. The question went to his thanator aspect, of course, and not to Harry who was safely guarded behind his Occlumency barrier. He stopped the thanator aspect from answering, for even he didn't know what a thanator would do. Atan'iti was in his mind with free access to everything that was not hidden behind the barrier. He couldn't exactly ask the thanator aspect without her knowing something was strange. Instead, Harry allowed the slightest crack in his barrier, and through it sent a single image. _Friend_.

Atan'iti smiled through her pain, looking into Harry's eyes with a new confidence, "He is my friend."

"Then break the bond so that we may treat you," her mother commanded. Atan'iti did, and instantly her presence vanished from Harry's mind. Harry released the barrier around his human self and reconnected with the thanator. It was disconcerting, to have had Atan'iti there with him for hours, only to find her mind removed faster than a camera's flash. Harry shook his head and the people around him gasped and murmured, hoping he would not turn on them. Harry took a few steps and stretched, reacquainting himself to having control without the barrier. They were all looking at him, waiting, and Harry realized Atan'iti still wasn't getting treatment.

Harry turned to face Jake and his daughter, still tightly held in his arms. Harry bent his four front knees, closed his eyes, and bowed his head to Jake and to his daughter. Jake was wide eyed, but nodded his head in return. Neytiri prompted him to bring Atan'iti inside for treatment, and he began to turn away.

Atan'iti looked at Harry over her father's shoulder speaking in her native language, "I see you, friend."

Harry let out a roar in return.


	12. A Deal Struck

Author's notes: I've gotten some criticism about how Harry seems to know too much for what he has experienced to this point in the story. This is a failing on my part, due to hasty writing and not having it looked over before it was posted, and for people this far into the story it is too late to fix. I've added a little blurb at the beginning of "Lying Truthfully" that explains my thoughts on it, and I'll repeat it here. Harry hasn't slept one minute since he arrived on Pandora. It's a side-effect of the travelling. That gives him a LOT of time to read up on the history of it all through his datapad. I had hoped that this nighttime education was clearer, but looking back I can see it isn't. My fault. But honestly, the universe of Pandora was filled out in the span of a 2 hour movie... it isn't all that hard to grasp. And his explanation on his arrival is a farce. One of the most peculiar findings of quantum theory is the strange behavior of quarks that Harry mentions (which is a real behavior, by the way) so I don't consider coming up with that story after 6 hours of thought to be too far-fetched. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Atan'iti disappeared into the interior of Hometree and Harry looked around at the gathered Na'vi. After their leader left them, the only thing of interest for them to observe was the giant predator in their midst. Despite his previous show of loyalty to Jake, the Omaticaya people, especially the hunters, were uneasy with Harry there among them. He could see a few fingering their bows and looking skyward toward their banshees, and figured it was time to leave them. He wanted to stay and see if Atan'iti was comfortable, but the Na'vi were already nervous with him outside. He laughed at the idea of him waltzing into the interior of the tree and curling up next to her like a housecat. The laugh was a growl and the hunters fingered their bows more obviously. It was time to leave.

Harry's haunches snapped into action and he leaped away from the gathering place, running back out into the jungle, back towards Hell's Gate. He knew the direction, his thanator aspect had an innate sense of direction that he couldn't quite understand, but was able to utilize effectively. As he ran, first back through the field to give the gathering Na'vi women and children the chance to see him again, then through the jungle proper, leaping over creeks and dodging trees, feeling the g-forces of his agility pressing against his body like a roller coaster as he threaded around the trunks, he thought of what he was going to do concerning Hell's Gate and the humans who lived there. Should he really leave?

Surviving in the jungle was a definite possibility now. As a thanator he was ensured absolute safety, and as a result of his Atan'iti mishap, would probably be welcomed as her special guest with the Omaticaya. But did he really want to stay in his thanator aspect that much? It was fun to be sure, but it was only a small part of him. As much as he felt natural in the jungle, he was also just Harry. Where would he keep his books, and where would he eat his food? Even though he could live off of thanator kills, he really didn't want to. He would be a like crazy old hermit that lived out in the jungles, and no one would trust him. Harry wanted to help both the Na'vi and the humans who considered Pandora home, just as he now considered it home, and to do that he would have to be accepted by them. That meant living out of Hell's Gate, seeing as how the Na'vi would never let him live at Hometree.

Harry shot out onto a fallen tree that bridged a wide river, broad and mossy, rising twenty feet over the water's surface. The jungle ended like a cliff at the river's bank, and started up just as fast on the other side. It made the shallow valley that the river had managed to cut seem like a deep crevasse, covered by green and brown and glowing cliffs on either side, hundreds of feet down from surface level. Living out of Hell's Gate wouldn't be too bad, he decided. Now that he had complete freedom in the jungle, being required to sleep in the perfectly square and dead concrete rooms didn't seem like such a sacrifice. Besides, it was a sacrifice that reaped huge gains. He could build trust, have meals, have clean clothes, and be safe while outside of his thanator form. Really, Harry conceded, it was ideal.

But what would Norm and Max say to that? Harry did NOT want to be cooped up inside, babysitting with a girl that didn't seem all that interested in Pandora in the first place. Despite being Norm's daughter, the man who seemed completely mesmerized by Pandora, even decades after his arrival, she had no interest in the planet she was born on. Harry couldn't do what she did, pass up the opportunity to be outside and to explore in favor of dead walls and cold, metal furniture. He would have to help the colony in some other way. As important as watching the children was, Harry was certain his talents would be better used for something _different_. But how could he possibly convince Norm of that without revealing himself?

The more Harry thought, the more he realized he was being rather stupid. Now that he had his thanator form, now that he had his wand, there was no real reason to hide anymore. The realization hit him and broke his stride slightly. Slowing down, Harry sniffed the air and sat on his haunches to digest the startling thought. _I have no reason to hide anymore._ He didn't. The Statute of Secrecy no longer existed, and Harry was free to tell everything to anyone he pleased. Norm and the other scientists would no longer be able to hold him down and force him to submit to testing, either. A simple demonstration of his full magical ability, if needed, would stop those thoughts dead in their tracks. He would simply explain that science could not explain some things in the universe. Science did not have all the answers. (Author's note: That's a good lesson to learn in real life, by the way.) Science and magic were two aspects of the universe that disagreed on many principals, and were by their very natures, opposed.

So he would tell them. He would reveal everything, almost, and he would offer his services to them in a way that would best suit their needs. He smiled as he thought of their reactions to his two demands. _But no testing, and no babysitting._

*

Harry neared the borders of Hell's Gate and was about to change back into his human form, hopefully without trouble, as it would be his first attempt, when a commotion he picked up through his advanced senses stopped him. He began to slink forward, body low, shoulder blades protruding like four shark fins, and looked carefully through a hole in the foliage to the clearing of Hell's Gate.

Norm in his Avatar body stood alongside of Max in an exopack, talking to a large man that Harry didn't recognize. Right behind the man was some sort of aircraft, its tail end opened up with the man standing at the end of a metal ramp. His heart dropped. The man was holding a rifle and wore a uniform with an RDA patch on its sleeve.

"Look, Doctor Spellman, I told you before and I'll tell you again, either you agree to relinquish your hold on Hell's Gate and take your people back to Earth where a nice quiet bonus will be waiting for you, or we'll take it by force and you'll be sent home to much worse."

"And I told you," Norm replied, looking intimidating at almost ten feet tall in his specially designed Avatar khakis, "That we need time to discuss, and that we have defenses ready to take down any combat craft you send our way. We don't want to do anything without time to talk."

The marine looked tired of talking, "I'm not a negotiator, I'm a Marine. I came down to deliver an ultimatum and to give you a fair chance at getting out of this clean. That's generous. I don't have any authority to change the deal. What I do know is that your real body is safe inside there." He gestured to the main complex of Hell's Gate. "If you try to say anything other than 'yes' or 'no' next time you open your mouth, I can blow your big blue costume to Hell without any repercussion. Got it?"

Harry figured it was time to intervene. He concentrated on his human form and grabbed hold of his thanator aspect, stuffing back inside of himself. His form shifted smoothly back to that of human Harry, complete with his wand in his hand and bubblehead charm firmly intact, just as he had been when he changed. He stepped out of the bushes, walking slowly so he wouldn't get shot by a surprised, trigger-happy Marine. He walked forward steady, hoping that he could get close enough to distract the group before the showdown ended in the execution of Norm's avatar. Norm, for his part, was doing a good job in remaining silent, apparently thinking fast at his choices. When Harry was ten feet away, the Marine spotted him, "That's close enough, kid!"

Max said, "Harry? Get back inside! We'll get you after this is worked out."

The Marine was turned toward him, assessing danger, but seemed to ultimately decide that Harry wasn't a real threat. To the Marine he was just a kid of one of the scientists that had stumbled onto their conversation accidentally. "Get back inside, kid, we'll be coming to collect you soon enough and send you home." Harry stopped and looked at the Marine curiously. The man, while rough and intimidating, wasn't evil at all. He was doing his job, and from his perspective, it was a noble job. He was trying his best to save his planet from complete destruction.

His wand at his side, he almost felt bad for the guy. With a focused mind and exacting flick, the Marine's machine gun changed into a giant strand of black licorice. As the man stared at his machine gun, Harry was already raising his wand, "What the fu-"

"_Stupefy!"_ Harry shouted, and the red beam stuck the man in the chest. He folded limply to the ground.

The field was silent for a long moment as Max and Norm stared wide-eyed at Harry, who now was looking back at them, his blood-red Hometree wand hanging down from his right hand. His face was more or less neutral, besides, of course, the glow of satisfaction from letting loose his magic and the general twinkle in his eye that said he knew something that they didn't. Thinking back, Harry realized that Dumbledore's twinkle may have been just that. The old wizard always had something planned, had always been alive in ponderings. Now it was Harry's turn to get the look. "Uhhhh..." Norm said.

Max finished his thoughts, "Harry, what was that? Is he dead?"

"Dead?" Harry asked. Looking at the Marine, he suddenly realized that, to them, he may have well have used the Killing Curse. "Oh, no he's just unconscious."

"What did you do to him?" Norm asked. He picked up the black licorice twist, three feet long, six inches thick, and hollow in the center. "Is this candy?"

"Yeah, its licorice," Harry explained.

"Where is his gun? Harry, just spit it out! What did you just do?" Max seemed to be recovering faster than Norm, his eyes were glued to the licorice strand was turning in Norm's hands. The avatar driver seemed to be in some state of shock.

"All right, calm down, and I'll tell you," Harry said, his hands gesturing to calm the building tension. "You just saw me do magic. I'm a wizard."

Max didn't like the answer. "Harry, stop avoiding the question and answer me!"

Harry rolled his eyes. This is why he didn't want to tell them without being able to prove himself, or defend himself. He pointed his wand at the unconscious marine and said, "_Levicorpus!_" The man's body rose three feet off the ground on an invisible stretcher. "I'm not lying. It's magic. I'm a wizard. I can turn you into a newt, if you like, for further demonstration."

Max felt under the Marine's body, his arms only hitting air, and the two scientists stared at the floating corpse. Harry began to direct the Marine back and forth to prove his point further.

After a few minutes Norm shook his head, "For now we'll take it at that. But we'll talk about this later. For now, can you wake him up?"

Harry did, binding him with conjured ropes for good measure. The two scientists gasped at the display, but said nothing. _Good,_ he thought. At least they could restrain themselves for a little while. After the Marine was secured, Harry sat him down on the ramp of his small shuttle and woke him up.

The man yelled and struggled against the ropes at first, but then admitted defeat, "What happened?"

Before the other two men could respond, Harry said, "I don't know. You just fainted. Maybe your exopack wasn't filtering properly. We put on a new one for you."

The Marine cursed at his luck. Norm caught on quickly and called him 'Pandora green,' saying that it was fairly common for newcomers to not use their exopack correctly. He finished by saying, "Look, before you interrupted me, I was about to tell you that if you come down in force before we are ready, our perimeter turrets will shoot your ships out of the sky. We're switching the targeting to anti-air as we speak, so believe us if you don't want a lot of blood on your hands. We will discuss terms on our own time, got it?"

"I don't really have a choice. I'll send along your message to the commander." They exchanged communications frequencies and then Norm unbound the Marine, letting him return to the ISV that was orbiting the planet. After the small shuttle was out of sight Norm returned his Avatar to the avatar barracks, telling Harry and Max to meet him in his quarters. They were going to have a 'talk' about Harry's magic.

*

"So let me get this straight," Max said after Harry explained the world of magic to them over the past hour, "Magic is real, you're the only wizard left, and you traveled to Pandora from 180 years in the past and now you want to help us fight off the RDA."

"Yeah, that's a pretty good summary," Harry said, scratching his chin.

Harry was having fun revealing magic to Muggles, in all its glory. At first they still refused to believe that Harry could actually perform what he called magic. They first said it was force field technology, an avenue of quantum physics that had just been developing when they left for Pandora, and they claimed that Harry was trying to pull a fast one. Harry countered by turning Norm's desk into a pig, letting it sniff their shoes with its moist snout before changing it back.

"We need to run some tests!" Norm exclaimed. "This is phenomenal! What if we could figure out how to recreate it?"

"Woah, woah, woah," said Harry, holding up his palms and shaking them back and forth, "No tests. I'm going to help you fight off the RDA, but you need to give me a few things in return. One, I get to live here. Two, I don't have to help Celia babysit. Three, no tests. Besides, I can guarantee you that you'll find nothing. Magic is in a whole different avenue that can's be explained by science. It isn't part of the 'natural world' as you call it."

"That's ridiculous," Norm said, "Science can explain anything with enough testing and effort."

"There's plenty that science can't explain," Harry said. "And you're going to have to accept that magic is one of them, because I won't accept any sort of testing. Ask me all the questions you want, but you aren't going to be building any hypotheses about magic– not with my assistance, anyways."

Reluctantly Norm and Max agreed. "So what exactly can you do that will help us fight off the RDA?" Max asked.

"I'm not sure," Harry replied truthfully. "I don't know how strong they are, and what their strategy is. I need to know what they're capable of before I can choose the best way to foil their plans."

"Well, we know that they have to retake Hell's Gate to have any hope in defeating the Na'vi. It took years to build this place. Materials had to be shuttled down from the ISV little by little, and it was very hazardous. The RDA barely were able to get Hell's Gate operational, and with us and the Na'vi actively against them this time around, they won't have a chance at starting fresh somewhere else."

"So we can expect a push here," Harry said, musing. "How violent are they going to be? That Marine seemed pretty ready to spill some blood."

Norm nodded, looking worried. "We're not too sure either. We'll have to talk to whomever is in charge of the new group, and see what they're like."

Max said, "You know they will do anything to take back Hell's Gate. Jake and the Na'vi are going to absolutely refuse any sort of mining to restart, and the RDA is absolutely dedicated to start mining, and we're caught right in the middle."

"So there's nothing that will stop a war from breaking out?" Harry asked.

"Not unless something changed on Earth in the past eighteen years," Max said, shaking his head. "Unobtainium is required for Earth to survive the way it is now. If they don't get a steady supply then it will be an apocalypse for them."

"What exactly are we talking about?" Harry asked.

"Unobtainium is the key thing that powers the matter-antimatter reactors back on Earth. If they shut down then there will be a catastrophic power shortage. The economy will collapse, food will stop being produced and distributed, some of the CO2 scrubbers in the poorer regions of the world will have to be shut down, it'll be chaos," Norm said.

Harry was curious about their reactions, "And how can you deny the RDA something that they need so badly?"

"Nothing justifies pillaging an entire planet, not even saving another one. Even if they do kill all the Na'vi and mine Pandora dry, Earth will still be in the same situation. It'll be even worse down the road when Pandora stops producing and we'll have two dead planets, not one," Max was heartfelt in his speech.

"So we protect Pandora," Harry said. Both Max and Norm nodded, sadly. No matter how much they loved Pandora, they were still human. Their planet was dying and everyone back on Earth thought that more Unobtainium was the solution to their problems. Every colonist knew the truth though; that it was a band-aid at best, but that still didn't fix their home planet. "So now what?"

Max was wrapped up in thought. Norm said, "We plug in these frequencies and talk to whoever is in charge up there."


	13. Healing Bridges

Hello my wonderful readers. I am sorry about the _huge_ delay. I won't make any excuses, but I hope you'll forgive me after you read this chapter. I hadn't worked on this for so long that I had to reread my own stuff to get back on track! It's rather inexcusable. Well… read on.

"You guys are absolute idiots, you know that?" said the voice of Parker Selfridge through the speaker of the communications console. Harry, Norm, and Max stood alone in the control room of Hell's Gate, listening to the small, whiny voice of the old General Operations Director of Hell's Gate.

"Parker?" Norm exclaimed at the voice.

"Yeah, it's me again. And I'm really pissed off this time too. Here you guys are, sitting pretty on your little planet all these years and the board of directors sends me right back here. When this is all through, I'll have wasted two decades of my life asleep! There's Hell to pay, Norm, and you're gonna pay me in Unobtainium."

"It's a moon," Harry said absently, thinking back to his first few hours he spend scouring the datapad for information on Pandora. "Pandora is a moon of Polyphemus. It isn't a planet."

"What?" Parker's voice said, "Who is this idiot?"

"My name is Harry," said Harry.

The voice from the speaker was silent for a few seconds, "He your kid or something, Norm?" Parker asked. "You all hook up down there and start popping out little treehumpers?"

"Parker you need to calm down," Norm said firmly. When the other side of the line stayed silent, Norm continued, "We can't just hand over Hell's Gate because we know what you're going to do to the Na'vi this time around. We can't leave the planet and let the RDA commit a genocide."

"Genocide?" Parker asked, sounding genuinely surprised. He didn't sound shocked or disgusted by the idea, but just as if he hadn't thought of killing all the Na'vi as an option. "We can't do that. There's a huge grassroots movement back on Earth that would go crazy if we killed all the Na'vi. When we got kicked off the first time they said that it was 'proof' that the monkeys were as intelligent as we are. So we can't kill them. It would be the end of our good reputation. We're just gonna move them, like before."

"And destroy their homes," Norm finished. "I would call that a cultural genocide and it's just a step below actually killing them. Should I call you Hitler from now on? It's the same thing."

"Same thing?" Parker laughed. "I'm not a monster, I'm a businessman. As long as they stay out of our hair they're free to worship whatever flower and tree they want. Why is that such a big demand?"

"Because it would destroy their lives and their planet, you idiot!" Harry snapped, unable to restrain himself anymore. Parker was like Fudge with a bit of Voldemort thrown in, self-centered with some cruelty to boot.

"Tell your kid to stay out of this," Parker said. "Now, what will it take for you to get in a shuttle we send down for you? I've been authorized to give each former RDA employee two million dollars to get peacefully on the shuttle, as well as five hundred thousand dollars to each child that has been born since. You'll also get your full retirement. It's a great deal, Norm. Take advantage of it, for Henry's sake."

"It's Harry," Harry said, "And I'm not his son."

"You'll still get five hundred grand, kid. That's enough for a nice apartment and a college education in any city you want."

"No," Norm said. "No way. We aren't leaving to let you push the Na'vi anywhere you want. You should come down, _without_ any guns, and speak with Jake. I'm sure you two can work out some mining agreements that don't interfere with Na'vi culture or Pandora ecology."

"Jake?" Parker asked, "What does Jake have to do with any of this? How is he by the way? He hasn't had a heart attack from spending all his time in a link machine, doin' the nasty with his monkey girlfriend?"

"God Parker, you're like a kid. Jake is the leader of the Na'vi people. You need to talk with him to get any sort of compliance from the Na'vi."

"The Chief!" Parker said, astonished and laughing. "Does he wear a feather hat?"

"Jake is Na'vi now. _Real_ Na'vi, not just using the link machines. His avatar body is his real body."

"You're shitting me," Parker said. "How you pull that one off?"

"We didn't, the Na'vi did it," Norm said. "Now, will you speak with him? He's going to be a lot more reasonable than any native born Na'vi. Your best bet at succeeding is getting a working agreement with him."

The other end of the line was silent for some time. Finally, Parker said, "You know... my ISV is equipped with OBMs. That's Orbital Bombardment Munitions, for you pinheads. If it wasn't for Pandora's crazy magnetic fields we would destroy your turrets like that. Fortunately for you, I'm just as likely to hit Hell's Gate as I am those turrets, and we need the buildings. I'll come down and speak with Jake, but we're going to have the discussions _inside_ my shuttle. Nowhere else. I'll be there tomorrow, and Jake better be there too."

The communications panel clicked off, signaling the end of the transmission from Parker's ISV. Harry, Norm, and Max looked at each other, thinking through the conversation.

"I thought restarting the mining was out of the question," Harry said, looking at Norm.

"It probably is, as far as Jake is concerned. If the Na'vi allow some form of supervised, non-military mining to restart that'll be his decision and not mine."

"You think he will?" Max asked. He looked doubtful.

"No," Norm said. "But it buys us one more day at least."

That evening Harry ran out to Hometree in his Thanator form. The journey was not long on his six thanator legs, pumping and weaving his huge, agile form through the Pandoran jungle like a fish gliding through tropical reef. On the outskirts of the Hometree he shifted smoothly back to human Harry and threw on his invisibility cloak.

He approached Hometree invisibly, admiring the strong, natural glow that emanated from strange, living pods. The pods were like fireflies trapped in a jar, and they had been hung from the trees surrounding Hometree, and up in the canopy of the huge tree itself, basking the entire area in a soft, glowing blue light. The Omaticaya Na'vi had apparently just finished their meals, for Harry could see some settling down into their hammocks for the night. Others, mostly young adults that were pursuing interests and new relationships, were scattered around the base of Hometree's trunk, lying on the moss or playing, laughing, and talking. They were, of course, always within range for a quick scamper inside if something big came out of the jungle.

_If I came out of the jungle_. Harry thought, thinking of his Thanator self. Carefully avoiding the luminescent moss that would betray his position of stepped on, Harry moved inside of Hometree. It was not crowded, and the Na'vi were all purposely moving in one direction or the other, either upwards to sleep, or in the case of the younger Na'vi, downwards to join the others at the base of the huge trunk. The firefly lamps were also hung inside the tree, casting everything in a dark illuminated blue. Up, off the ground floor, Harry could see a flat platform, as if there was a second story to the first, with wide ramps of natural, grown wood that lead up to it.

_The ecology of the entire planet seems to fulfill a need for something else_. Harry thought with amazement as he slowly made his way up the wide, spiraling tree-path. These huge trees were designed to hold the Na'vi. There was no other way to see it. Everything about the Hometree fit the Na'vi needs. It provided warmth, food, storage, shelter, and a beacon in the huge expanse of Pandoran jungle. They were, in every way, perfectly designed as a home.

Harry heard voices coming from the second floor landing and he peeked his invisible head across the floor clearing. The spiraling ramp moved up the side of the tree, a flat outcropping from the interior wall, and the second floor landing had a hole where the ramp came up to meet it, just as the staircase in a house. So Harry looked over the top and saw what looked to be a meeting . Jake was there, as well as Neytiri. Along with the two leaders were a few older Na'vi, what Harry assumed to be something akin to elder advisors. Off to the side, laying in a pile of a kind of comfortable cloth, was Atan'iti.

Her ankle was elevated but she didn't seem to be in too much pain. It was wrapped with a leafy bandage but she was listening to the conversation of the Omaticaya tribe leaders in the center of the landing. They were, of course, speaking in Na'vi, and Harry didn't know it.

But then little flashes of understanding began to filter through the foreign language. Harry couldn't point to specific words that he recognized, just an overall insight to the direction of the conversation. _Sky people, meeting, dangerous. _Then one word came out clearly. "Parker," Jake had said amid a flurry of other Na'vi words. Neytiri hissed at the name of the former general operations manager, and Jake did not look much happier. Atan'iti, on the other hand, looked excited and intrigued about the idea of meeting with humans—especially humans that hadn't lived on Pandora for most of their lives.

Harry moved under his cloak quietly, staying against he inner trunk wall, circling around the circle of Omaticaya leaders in the center towards Atan'iti. The clearing was large, encompassing almost the entire interior of the trunk, and so Harry was confident that he could speak with Atan'iti without being overheard, if they whispered. Circling behind her makeshift bed, he whispered her name, "Atan'iti."

The young huntress jumped and let out a surprised, "Nga!" Harry almost laughed at the inhuman exclamation, but held in his humor well.

Atan'iti's parents and the elder Omaticaya turned as one. Neytiri asked something in Na'vi, which Harry somehow understood as _Daughter, pain?_

Atan'iti replied, "No, mother." Harry could pick up that much, at least.

They turned back to their discussions and Harry circled around the front. "Harry Potter?" Atan'iti whispered, looking around carefully. Harry opened the front of his cloak so that Atan'iti could see him but the group in the middle of the room could not. Atan'iti's eyes grew big as her suspicions were confirmed, but did not give any sign other that a slight disapproving glare. "You should not be here, Harry Potter. How did you find us?"

"There are plenty of ways to find out, living in Hell's Gate," said Harry. "I heard you had a run in with a big cat today."

Atan'iti looked as if she was trying to be disapproving, but her clearing expression said that her excitement of seeing Harry for the first time in a long time was the overriding decision. "I assume a _cat_," she said it with purposefulness, "is an animal from your planet. But please, did the wood from Hometree help you?"

Harry smiled and took his wand from his pocket. He handed it to her, figuring she had every right to see it as both the wood and the core belonged to the Na'vi more than him. She turned it over in her hands. "Why is it red?" she asked.

"I had to mix some of my blood into it," Harry said. "To make it work with me." Atan'iti looked confused, and Harry just sighed and took it back. "Doesn't matter why, I guess. But it's red because of blood." Atan'iti seemed happy to get rid of it, and Harry smiled a bit.

"You should have told me that before you handed it to me," Atan'iti hissed.

"Don't worry, the red is just a color. A symbol, almost." Harry said.

Atan'iti didn't look totally convinced, and her excitement at seeing Harry seemed to be fading quickly. "What are you doing here, Harry Potter?" she asked again.

Harry looked at her ankle and felt a stab of guilt, "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"No, it is nothing," Atan'iti replied. Harry almost laughed at Atan'iti, a six-something foot giant compared to him, being pouty and childish. He always had to remind himself that she was the same age, and much _much_ younger, if he considered the traveling time. He didn't think that the travel time between Earth and Pandora mattered though, perhaps maybe just slightly.

"Hmm," Harry said, looking closely at her face. He thought he could see a little sweat on her forehead, even though the night was cool. The cool blue skin above her eyes shined a little more brightly than it should have, sparkling in the way that slightly damp skin does. "Would you like me to fix it?" Harry asked.

Atan'iti's eyes narrowed at him, large and feline, weighing and considering with human intelligence. "I would be grateful," she finally said.

Harry was about to perform the general mending charm, when he heard a change in the conversation behind him. Wrapping the cloak around his front, disappearing from Atan'iti's view, he moved off to the side carefully and looked back towards the center of the landing. Atan'iti's parents and the elders were rising from their seats on the ground, the elders taking care to move slowly, but still with a grace beyond the abilities of all but the most graceful humans. Neytiri and Jake came to check on Atan'iti, and Harry waited patiently off to the side.

"How are you feeling, Atan'iti?" Neytiri asked.

"I am well enough, mother," Atan'iti replied. Harry noticed that Atan'iti could lie to Harry about her leg, but not her mother. He thought back to Jake's claim about Na'vi never lying, and wondered if Atan'iti had separated the human and Na'vi parts of herself, allowing her to lie to humans but not to other Na'vi.

Neytiri peeked at Atan'iti's leg under the bandages and tsk'ed her tongue. "It is swollen, but not enough to be broken. You are lucky, daughter."

"What have you decided about the new Sky People?" Atan'iti asked.

Her mother looked slightly annoyed. Harry decided that Neytiri had a temper, "Were you not listening?"

"No," said Atan'iti simply.

"We are going to meet with them tomorrow, on their ship as asked. Normspellman says he can provide protection that the new Sky People cannot foresee."

"What is it?" Atan'iti asked.

"We do not know," Neytiri replied, with a glare at Jake.

"I said we can trust him," Jake said confidently. "He has been here for over a decade, he calls Pandora home just as we do."

Atan'iti nodded, and Jake kissed her on the forehead. Atan'iti blushed, or rather Harry thought she did as her face turned a darker blue before moving back to its normal royal. Jake looked at her questioningly, "Are you too old for your dad to kiss you goodnight?"

_Daddy's girl_, thought Harry, shaking his invisible head in amusement. Jake continued on with his teasing, "So then is there an interest, down there right now? Are you blushing because you wish you could be with him?"

"Father!" Atan'iti said, scandalized. Jake just chuckled and said, "Goodnight, Atan'iti."

Neytiri looked at her mate and daughter's exchange with resignation, and Harry realized what it was. The relationship that Jake had with Atan'iti was more human then it was Na'vi. Harry wondered how many fights Jake and Neytiri had gotten themselves into over Jake's human past. He looked at Atan'iti, laying on her bundle of soft cloths, and wondered exactly how human she really was. Atan'iti was both, and because of it she was completely unique. She was, perhaps, a member of both species fully. Maybe instead, Harry thought, a full member of neither.

Jake and Neytiri left Atan'iti then, moving up the spiraling ramps of Hometree towards their hammock to retire. After they were out of sight Atan'iti began to look around for Harry. He revealed himself to her in the same way, keeping the cloak wrapped around his back and sides, showing on the front. "Your father really loves you," Harry said.

Atan'iti showed her fangs, but she wasn't smiling, "Do not speak of it, Harry Potter. It was embarrassing knowing you were there."

"I thought it was very nice," Harry said, ignoring her threat. She couldn't go anywhere on her bad ankle. "I didn't have parents growing up, did you know?"

Atan'iti's defensive face changed, "I am sorry to hear that," she said.

"It was a long time ago," Harry said, waving it off.

"Yes," Atan'iti said, remembering, "I had forgotten you are from another time as well as another place."

"Just know that I think your family is wonderful. I don't think it's childish at all." Once again Harry got the weird feeling, speaking to a person larger than a human, but younger than he. _Remember she is your age_, Harry said.

"Thank you," Atan'iti said, "I admit I was worried about what you would think."

_Why?_ Harry looked at her ankle again, "Would you like me to fix it?" he asked. Atan'iti nodded, obviously excited to see actual magic for the first time. Invisibility cloaks, brooms, and bubblehead charms were hints at the world of magic, but Atan'iti and the scientists had hardly scratched the surface when it came to the depth and width of Harry's abilities. Harry was, after all, a fully qualified wizard. Not only that, he was quite talented and practiced in the arts of magical warfare, stemming from intensive training and hands-on experience from Voldemort's war.

Fortunately for Atan'iti, the arts of magical warfare included knowledge in minor healing spells. For magical medicine, something like a sprain or even a broken bone was minor. Harry unwrapped the bandage carefully, not wanting to cause any pain to Atan'iti's swollen ankle. Her tail was twitching nervously, poking out from behind her bed of soft cloth. She was excited to see magic, and scared that it was being performed on her.

Harry smiled at her reassuringly, "Remember our deal?" he asked. She looked at him confused, so he continued, "I agreed to help you fight against the RDA if you helped me get a wand. You fulfilled your end of the deal better than I could have hoped, and so I have a lot of repaying to do. Healing your ankle and doing it right is just the start. If I wasn't sure I could do it right I wouldn't try at all."

Atan'iti took a shaky breath and nodded, trying to trust him. He wasn't sure if she actually did, however, and he understood. They hadn't seen each other for weeks, he had been focusing on his Animagus transformation, and their few times spent together had been overshadowed by Eywa's condemnation and Harry's subsequent banishing from the Pandoran jungles. _Hopefully this will help with all of that_, thought Harry.

"So exactly how did this happen?" Harry asked as he worked at unwrapping the bandage.

"I bonded with a Thanator!" Atan'iti said, her excitement coming out of her like a flood. Her nervousness vanished, replaced by a gushing tide of words and positive feelings, "He found me as I was hunting a Hexapede, and at first I thought he just wanted my kill. Many times a Thanator will wait for a Na'vi to kill something for them, instead of hunting animals for themselves. But this one stepped over it, and towards me. But instead of attacking, it acted like a horse, very tame." Atan'iti shook her head as Harry removed the last of the bandages. "I think that was my mistake, Harry Potter. The Thanator was _not_ tame. I bonded with it the first time and there were so many emotions, and so intelligent! It was scared of me! Can you believe it? It threw me to the ground and I hurt my ankle. But then it offered and we made the bond again. Its fear was gone, and I could feel a loyalty and desire to help from it. It is so strange, how quickly it changed. I do not understand it—"

"_Episkey!"_ Harry said as she was distracted in thought. Her ankle made a small popping noise as her tendons and muscles healed themselves, and the swelling instantly lessened back to smooth, blue skin. Harry prodded it in places to be sure that the spell had worked properly on Atan'iti's Na'vi body, and it had. Her skin was very soft, as well.

"What did you say, Harry Potter?" Atan'iti asked, distracted by her story. And then, as Harry prodded her ankle without pain, she sat up quickly and looked at it, smooth and dark and slender. She turned it one way, then rotated it in a full circle, and finally leaned over and gave Harry a hug, her long Na'vi arms wrapping around him. "I like your magic, Harry Potter!" she said. Her voice held a thousand thank-yous.

Harry just laughed, delighted at her reaction, "Its only the beginning," he said. "I owe you a lot more than that."

Atan'iti nodded, pulling back and looking at Harry, evaluating and thinking. Her yellow eyes ran over him, taking in his face, the blood-red Hometree wand, his jeans and t-shirt and rippling, shimmering invisibility cloak. Something important was happening in her mind, he knew, something momentous. He waited.

Finally, she spoke. "I believe that Eywa is mistaken with you, Harry Potter. I do not know what she has said to you, what her charge is against you, but I believe that you only wish to help the Na'vi, and help Eywa. I grant you free passage through Pandora, including the home of The People. I also will call you my friend," she said with a smile. Her long incisors poked over her teeth, perfect and bright white.

Harry was stunned, wondering if Atan'iti's announcement was official in some way, but he decided it really didn't matter. He just smiled back at her. "Of course," Atan'iti continued, "You'll still have to sneak around in your cloak, until we can convince my parents to consider you a friend as well."

"I see," Harry said. "I think I can do that."

Atan'iti stood from her bed and tested her ankle, walking around and jumping. It was strong and free. "I think I will be seeing you tomorrow, Harry, when we go and meet with the Sky People. I wonder what they will try and say."

Harry shrugged, "I guess we'll find out. I don't have very high hopes, but it should be fun to watch, regardless."

"Fun?" Atan'iti asked, "This is very serious, and dangerous!"

Harry tapped his wand, "Serious, yes. Dangerous? Not for our side, anyways."


	14. Eywa, Part 2

Authors notes: Another chapter. Everyone pat yourselves on the back for reaching the 40k word mark with me. This one is rather dialogue heavy, but is absolutely vital to the story. I think everyone will be happy that with this finished, the majority of the problems that Harry faces and needs to overcome has been revealed. Get ready for some action soon.

Harry and Atan'iti spoke about small things. Harry asked her about Na'vi culture, and Atan'iti asked him about magic and his old life on Earth.

"My two best friends were Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger," Harry said. "Voldemort killed them right before I finished him, then I came here."

"I am sorry," Atan'iti said.

Harry moved his hand carelessly, "It was so long ago that it doesn't hurt at all. I remember the happy times I had with them a lot more than the end. Did I tell you about the time Hermione and I went back in time?"

Atan'iti shook her head, and Harry told her the story. Her eyes bulged out as he explained the idea of time travel and two Harry's in the same time. When he finished the story, Atan'iti looked very impressed. "You are a warrior, Harry Potter. Your entire life has always had fighting."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I always had my friends with me. Hermione was the one that thought about using her time-turner."

"Hermione," Atan'iti said, "Was she your mate?"

Harry smiled at the idea. Girls hadn't been on his mind for very long during the war. Besides that one flash of desire at the Yule Ball, his thoughts had been filled with death, dread, schoolwork, and moping. "She was very pretty, but no, nothing like that ever happened. We were too busy with other things."

"I see," Atan'iti said, nodding. "I can understand that."

"What about you?" Harry asked, but before Atan'iti could answer, a young Na'vi came up the ramp onto their second-floor landing. Harry wrapped the cloak around his front, the fabric swishing only a little. The Na'vi boy was Atan'iti's brother. Harry recognized him from that quick encounter at the school. Atan'iti's brother was strange compared to her. He looked like a normal Na'vi boy, while Atan'iti looked more like an Avatar. Her eyes were smaller and she had the five human fingers.

"Hello, Telan," Atan'iti said.

"Why do you speak in the Sky People's language?" he asked, also in English. His accent was much thicker, similar to Atan'iti's mother. Harry noticed that Atan'iti's accent was non-existent, as if she had been a native speaker like her father.

"Because I enjoy practicing it with others who know it," Atan'iti replied.

Telan made a grimacing face, as if her reasoning was detestable, "They are evil, and should all be removed." His voice was firm, and young.

Atan'iti suddenly looked nervous, and Harry wondered if it was because she knew he was listening. Confirming his suspicions, she switched over to Na'vi. Harry somehow understood the key phrases. _Don't. Good. Learn. Stubborn. _

Telan looked rebellious, but he was her younger brother so said nothing. Atan'iti was still lying on the bundle of cloths, but her bandage had been unwrapped as they weren't needed after Harry's healing.

Telan saw the bandage on the wooden ground and looked at her unswollen ankle, "Your foot is fixed already?" he asked, switching back to English.

Atan'iti smiled and stood, "Yes. I am very fortunate to be under such good care." She looked in the direction that Harry stood, invisible, and he smiled. He was glad he had his only friend back, after weeks of Animagus training and isolation.

_My Thanator form… our accidental bond._

Harry shook the thought from his head. He hadn't snooped around inside her mind. He felt like there had been no bond, that Atan'iti was still… unbonded. But he wondered how the Na'vi would see it. He _had_ been a Thanator, in every sense. The Animagus transformation was unique in that aspect. Other forms of transfiguration mimicked on the outside. The Animagus transformation was complete and whole. The Na'vi bonded with animals all the time, and at that time Harry had been an animal, in a very real sense. He sighed. Justification was well and good, but the decision on what crime he had committed would ultimately rest with Atan'iti.

"So are you going to the meeting tomorrow?" Telan asked. His voice was envious.

"I will," Atan'iti said. The proclamation surprised and unnerved Harry, but at the same time a spark of happiness erupted in him. It would be fun for her to be there, at a talk that was destined to end up disastrously, and one where he would be almost guaranteed to intervene. Along with the spark was an idea. It appeared in Harry's mind, and at first his morality and honor pushed it away hard, but then his deeper, selfish desires grabbed on to it. Dare he do it?

Atan'iti wished Telan a good night, promising to tell him everything in detail after she and their parents came back from the meeting. Telan left, passing the low flat surface in the center of the room. Harry's eyes followed the boy, and something on the low table, grown out of the floor like a wide, short mushroom, caught his eye. It was a spinning piece of metal, sparkly and blocky, like a cutting tool had sheared it into a cubic form. The piece of metal floated in a three-pronged metal stand, being contained and surrounded by the inward curving prongs, but floating freely inside of them.

Harry moved over to the table, his curiosity controlling him, because he knew what the metal was. Telan had moved up the ramps of Hometree towards the hammocks, and Harry removed his cloak so that Atan'iti could see him again. She moved over beside him as he reached the table. "This is Unobtainium," Harry said.

Atan'iti nodded. "Norm Spellman gave it to my parents after the battle. He said it was the old Director's personal piece. That man, Parker's."

Harry reached for the metal, curious about what it felt like, how heavy it was. Such a simple material to have so much usefulness and worth… it seemed strange to Harry. He removed the metal from its floating prongs and rolled it in his palm. It was light. Very light. And it seemed to roll in his hand easier that it should for being so squarish.

"I do not understand why the Sky People need this so much. My father has tried to explain it to me, about power generators and energy, but why do they need so much energy?" She looked at Harry seriously. "I am fascinated by you Harry—by Sky People, I mean. But this is one thing I do not understand. Why did they need so much from their planet that they destroyed it?"

"Wizards did not need the energy like other Sky People did. Sometimes I wonder how things would have been different, had wizards not kept the knowledge to themselves." Eywa's words came back to him. Wizards had failed Muggles. The Purebloods had gotten it completely backwards. Muggles were not inferior to wizards. Wizards were supposed to have been helpers for Muggles.

Harry continued to roll the chunk of Unobtainium in his hands, studying it closely. It attracted him in a powerful and strange way. Not because of its monetary value, but because of the power he knew it had. It was a unique metal, even an impossibility of the standard models of matter and the universe, and for some reason he knew it was powerful.

"It has been a long time," a voice said from beside him. Harry had been looking at the Unobtainium, staring at it closely, and the deep, male voice startled him. Harry spun away and wrapped his cloak around himself completely, pulling his wand out from his jean pockets and pointing it at the elderly Na'vi man standing beside him. Atan'iti was gone, and the second floor landing around him had changed. It was the same—the same ramp, the same table in the center, the same pile of cloths with the same Atan'iti shaped seat in the center. But it was also brighter, and the firefly lamps were missing. The room shimmered like the walls of an underground lake, the ripples casting ever moving and changing light. But the waving illumination was sharper, not like that of water. Instead, it looked like the reflection of metal.

Harry looked at the chunk of Unobtainium in his palm. It was bursting with light, shining in the room. "It is beautiful," said the old Na'vi man, still looking right at Harry through the cloak. "It is beautiful, and powerful."

Harry did not want to reveal himself, so said nothing. Instead, he moved around the old Na'vi man, trying to find Atan'iti.

The old Na'vi man's eyes tracked him, "Please, take off the cloak. It is hard enough for an old man to see you without having to pierce such powerful magic. He seemed to smile at the contradiction, and Harry faltered in his searching. Slowly, he took off his cloak and faced the man.

"Very good," the man said. "Now let me answer your questions one by one, to save time. First, your friend, Atan'iti is fine. She is in the exact place that you left her, standing by your side, wondering why you suddenly stopped responding to her. You, however, are trapped somewhere in between your own mind and the vastness of Pandora."

"Again?" Harry asked. Between the years and years of being pulled to Pandora, and the short episode with Eywa, he was sick and tired of having visions and dreams.

"Yes!" the man laughed. "So blunt, Harry Potter! It is one of the reasons I like you so much. I suppose it is my fault for all of it, but it is the only way I can speak with you."

"But who are you?" Harry asked.

The man drew himself up proudly. "I… am Eywa."

"Again?" Harry repeated. "What are you going to say this time? That I'm in trouble for going to Hometree? For what happened with Atan'iti?" For being a supposed deity, Eywa like to speak with Harry a lot.

"I… am not exactly the Eywa you met with before, Harry Potter," the Na'vi man said. His hair was thick and a lighter shade of charcoal grey, rather than thick black. His skin had the normal royal-on-blue patterns and bioluminescent markings, but his skin also had dark patches, like elderly humans had. His eyes were still sharp, but he had bags of looseness underneath them. Harry had never seen a Na'vi so old. He was definitely different than Grace.

"Not the same?" asked Harry.

The Na'vi shook his head, "Eywa is all about balance. Naturally, then, Eywa itself is also balanced. The body you spoke with at the Tree of Souls was female. I am male. The body you spoke with was the face of Eywa, the collection of all Na'vi, and now one human, that has ever lived and died on Pandora. That is the part of Eywa that the Na'vi know of, and they assume it is the only part. However, there is another part. Me."

"Just you?" Harry asked. "No collection of long dead souls?"

"Balance, remember? The face of Eywa is a collection. I am singular." The old Na'vi man had a Dumbledore-esque gleam in his eye that told Harry that he hadn't said everything.

"So… what exactly are you for, then?"

"The Na'vi believe that Eywa is neutral in all things, that she seeks only balance on Pandora. While that is partially true, I'm sure you've heard about the assistance that was given all those years ago?"

"When all the animals attacked the RDA?" Harry said.

The old man looked proud and puffed his chest, "That was me. I'm the part of Eywa that takes sides. I am the _power_."

Harry looked at the shining chunk of Unobtainium in his hands, then back at the old man. "So what does this metal have to do with everything? It seems to be connected to this little episode I'm having."

"You are very observant, Harry Potter. I am glad that I chose you. That—"

"Wait," Harry interrupted, "_Chose_ me? What does that mean?"

"I was the one that took you from that English hillside, Harry Potter. The small bit of metal you hold in your hand is a piece of my body, of my power. Since the 'Unobtainium' as you call it has been mined from Pandora and brought to Earth, I pulled you here to assist with the preservation of my moon. I hope you do not mind."

"How did you pull me here if Unobtainium arrived on Earth 180 years after I left?" Harry asked, confused.

"Don't try and make me explain the nature of magic and time to you, Harry Potter, because you will not understand it. Just believe that the nature of your transportation was done through a feat of magic that only pure magic can understand."

"So you're saying that Eywa is magical," Harry said, "That you are magic?"

"Eywa is both," the man replied. "My body and power lies in that mystical metal in your hands. The other aspect of Eywa is held in the biology of Pandora, in the neural network of all living things. Science and magic combined—it is balance."

Harry walked over to the table, next to the old Na'vi man, and set the Unobtainium down. "So what do you want with me?" he asked.

"When humans first started mining my body, I was weakened. When I summoned the power of Pandora to stop the RDA, I was drained. I used the last of my power to pull you here, and now I am exhausted. I can only maintain the balance of creatures on Pandora now, and give you the tiniest sliver of my power." The old man looked at Harry, his eyes wide and pleading, "Harry Potter, I need you to protect me, because humankind has beaten me. The magic of Pandora could not stand up to human science, and I hope that the balancing force, human magic, can stop them. It is the only hope I have left."

"I… see," Harry said. Eywa stood silently, watching him. His speech had been concise and informative, as if he had planned this meeting as carefully as he could, not wanting to fail. "So what does this mean for me? What changes?"

Eywa smiled at Harry, "I can't tell you what this means. I will give you my blessing, and the last bit of power I can spare. As far as my People are concerned, nothing will be changed. They do not know of this aspect of my whole, and the female aspect of Eywa still has a bad opinion of you. She sees wizards as failures, and she sees you as dangerous." Eywa smiled deviously, "She is cautious, and hates dangerous things. I am reckless, and I like danger."

Harry sat down on the grown tabletop, thinking. Once again, the fate of a world rested on his shoulders. Last time, apparently had been futile. Voldemort vanquished or not, the world would have been reduced to ruin, either by magical dictatorship or pollution. Maybe this time Harry could make something positive happen on a planet tracked for disaster. "It's a deal," Harry said, holding out his hand to shake.

Eywa laughed at the outstretched hand, and instead of completing the shake, he picked up the Unobtainium… and smashed it into Harry's palm. The metal sank into Harry's flesh, folding through the skin with an awful burning, like when he had reduced his wand to cinders killing Voldemort. The fire spread from his hand up his arms and through his body, heating and infusing Harry with… something. It was painful, but not nearly like the Cruciatus. The sparkling, shining room around him shifted and changed as he doubled over, and Atan'iti and the firefly lamps popped back into existence from a fold in the air.

Harry wheezed and puffed as the bubblehead charm seemed to stop working. It was still there, casting a pink glow to the world around him, but it wasn't filtering air any longer. His lungs burned as he tried to gulp in the something, and he fell to his hands and knees.

"Harry!" Atan'iti said in alarm, "What is wrong?"

Harry couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. The power that was flowing through his body was subsiding and lessening, but his lungs were still burning from the poisonous atmosphere of Pandora. Had his magic changed? Had Eywa lied to him, tricked him in an attempt to kill him?

Harry cancelled the bubblehead charm, fumbling with his wand to try and cast another one before he blacked out. But before he could find the focus to cast a spell in his desperate, panicked state, his body finally won. With the bubblehead charm off, he reflexively sucked in a mouthful of pure, unfiltered air and… the burning in his lungs stopped.

The air he pulled in was life-giving and nourishing. It didn't burn, but Harry knew it wasn't Earth-like air. It was heavy, hot, and gave his body exactly what it needed to survive.

Atan'iti looked confused and worried, "Harry, are you alright?"

Harry turned to her and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." Suddenly, a thought struck him. If he was breathing Pandoran air, "Atan'iti! Do you, err, notice anything different about me?"

Atan'iti stood up fully, picking up Harry from his hands and knees. She looked him over carefully, "Besides your head not being pink anymore… no. Why would you not speak to me? You were staring at the metal…"

Harry was disappointed. For an instant he though he may have been Na'vi. Apparently one of the new side effects of Eywa's power was the ability to breath Pandoran air. But did that mean he could no longer breath Earth-like air? Sighing, he looked for the metal on the ground, "Did you see where it went?"

Atan'iti looked as well, but didn't see it, "I did not see where it went when you fell over."

Harry nodded, it really had entered his body, then. He cursed Eywa silently for not telling him what would happen with the new power of Unobtainium. Now he had to explore a whole new aspect of himself, stumbling through as he had the Animagus transformation. "Its fine, Atan'iti. The Unobtainium is gone."

She looked at him sharply from her knees, as she had been looking under the table, her tail swishing up in the air as she searched. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"It is gone," Harry said. "I have something to tell you about Eywa. It might be pretty surprising."


	15. Parker's Revenge

Author's notes: In a review last chapter, someone made the claim that the facing side of the moon changes depending on the observer's position on Earth. Always eager to be right, I point that reviewer to: wikipedia .org/wiki/Tidal_locking. Thank you very much.

Harry repeated what he had learned from Eywa, summarizing and consolidating the details that he thought would most interest her. He figured that including his borderline annoyance, was well as his incredulity, wouldn't sit well with Atan'iti. After all Harry doubted the Na'vi would have picked him to speak to a previously unknown aspect of their god, had they the choice, so cutting out the rude parts would probably be best. He did tell her about the differences of this new Eywa, and explained about his more active role in everyday Pandoran life. As he spoke to her an idea popped into his head. What if the female Eywa was sort of like heaven, where all Na'vi go when they die, and the male Eywa was the more traditional deity figure? It made sense, but Eywa could also just be a schizophrenic. When he finished his summary, his edited summary, he waited for her reaction.

She seemed to be troubled and in thought. "What you say makes sense, Harry Potter, but how do you know what you saw was real?"

It was a good point, Harry knew, but there was enough proof that the vision was real, and he has a suspicion that time would only unveil new evidence. The Unobtainium went missing, something had to have pulled him to Pandora, he no longer needed a bubblehead charm to breathe Pandoran air, and he would soon find out exactly what it meant to have a tiny sliver of Pandoran magic. "I think it's true," Harry said. He hadn't told Atan'iti that he had inherited Eywa's power. He didn't want the Na'vi treating him like a religious figure, or a heretic.

Harry said goodbye to Atan'iti, promising her that they would see each other at the meeting. The Na'vi adolescents began to come up from the base of Hometree, and Harry wrapped his cloak around himself and prepared to leave. Just as he was about to sneak down the ramp during a lull in foot traffic, a young Na'vi male broke off and made his way towards Atan'iti, who hadn't yet sat down on her blanket bed.

"Atan'iti, you're well! I heard you broke your ankle!" Harry's heart pounded hard when he realized that the young male was speaking Na'vi, and Harry understood it perfectly.

_Well, I just found out one effect of Eywa's power,_ Harry thought as he calmed from his initial shock.

"I am well, Jesun," Atan'iti replied. "I am under skilled care." Once again, Harry noticed the twist in truth, the not-lie lie, and wondered if it was because of his influence on her, or Jake's.

"That is good," he said, looking at her with what Harry thought was too much attention. His eyes broke away, as if he had to do it consciously, "I am going to catch my Ikran in three day's time."

Atan'iti smiled at him, "That is good," she said, "I wish you Eywa's protection." The line sounded formal to Harry.

Jesun's bioluminescence, the small dots of changing color that ran down his neck and made thin, intricate designs on his face flashed red, and Harry wondered if there was a Na'vi color guidebook somewhere in Hell's Gate. "Good night, Atan'iti," Jesun said.

The young male left, turning back to travel up Hometree and to his hammock. Atan'iti watched him go, expressionless, and then began to look around for Harry. Harry smiled at her searching, and was about to remove his cloak so that he could say his final goodbyes, when he stopped himself. _It is time to go_, he thought firmly, and it truly was. It was late, and Atan'iti and he needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for everyone.

Once Harry was out of sight of Hometree, he changed into his Thanator form, his wand and cloak and clothes somehow molding with him, ready to reappear as he changed back to regular Harry. He shot off through the jungle, his six legs pumping against the soft, illuminated ground, flashing between glowing trees and ferns and vines in blue and purple and red, the glowing foliage that never allowed Pandora to ever be truly dark. Instead, there was a rainbow twilight, too dull to cast shadow, but bright enough to illuminate the jungle floor and his sleek black body, his reptilian, scale-like armor reflecting the color wetly.

Motes of fairy-light hazed in his vision as he streaked back toward Hell's Gate, thinking over his conversations with Atan'iti, with Eywa, thought about what might happen tomorrow in the doomed negotiations. The thought that Norm and Max might just want the Na'vi or Harry to end up killing Parker ran through his head more than once, but Harry decided that wasn't their intent. That pair just did not think that way.

As he arrived at the clearing around Hell's gate, Harry changed back to himself and strolled into the clearing. The night air was heavy and roiling, but cool. He breathed it into his lungs, unfiltered, and it was as sweet and nourishing as anything. In fact, it was better to him, being such a new experience, and Harry laughed in delight.

"Who's there?" a voice came from the darkness.

Harry looked around, and he saw Celia, Norm's daughter, in the twilight. He wondered if his eyes always saw so well in the dark, but decided it didn't really matter. His old life was now a haze, and it was so long ago, anyways. "It's me, Harry," he said.

Celia turned towards his voice and squinted, and Harry came forward so she could see him. They were near the edge of the clearing, the line of trees that marked the beginning of the Pandoran jungle only twenty feet away. A small building and automated defense turret stood not far away from them.

"Harry?" Celia asked, "What are you doing? Were you in the jungle?" When Harry came even closer, Celia gasped in surprise, holding her hand to her mouth– or at least to the clear face of the rebreather. "Harry! You're not wearing anything to breathe!"

"I figured that out not too long ago myself," Harry said, smiling. "It isn't important though… what are you doing out at night?"

"Not important?" Celia said, loudly, "Harry, this air is toxic! We can take turns with mine and make it back to the main building!" She began to take off her mask and rush to share it with Harry, but he strode forward smoothly and grabbed her wrist.

"I don't need one," he said. Just to prove his point, he took a deep breath through his nose, held it in a puffed chest, and exhaled through his mouth. "See?"

Harry walked Celia back to the airlock, and looked at it, "You get inside, but I think I'm going to have to stay in the Avatar building tonight. We'll have to test how I react to normal air under more controlled circumstances."

After the airlock door hissed closed Harry slowly walked to the Avatar compound, admiring the full night sky of Pandora, clear and strong without anything blocking or tinting his eyes. The sky was full of stars, and gas giant that Pandora orbited around was a blue ocean, roiling in the depths of space. There were seven bands of milky way clusters in the sky as well, their thick clusters of stars contained in a grayish hue instead of in pitch black. It was the most spectacular sky he had ever seen, with or without a telescope.

The Avatar compound was not far, and Harry climbed into one of the many empty bunks. At first, he felt strange being surrounded by empty shells of Na'vi-human hybrids, wondering at the method and ethics of their creation. He had started to read a bit about how they were made, but quickly shied away from the details. It just didn't seem right to him, but the days of making Avatars were over, or at least they were for now. Ever since the RDA had been kicked off Pandora, the labs for growing the hybrid embryos had gone unused.

Harry kicked off his shoes and slipped under the covers of his bunk. It was large, designed for a Na'vi rather than a human, but was surprisingly soft and the sheets smooth. He soon fell asleep, the heavy Pandoran air pushing in his chest, already almost natural.

Harry awoke the next morning to the staring face of Norm in his avatar and Max in a rebreather. They were leaning over his bunk, faces close and staring at him as he blinked the sleep away. Celia was standing not far away, looking at him intently.

"Harry?" Norm asked, "How do you feel?"

Taking a few more moments for his brain to restart from the night's sleep, Harry sat up and swung his legs off the bunk before replying, "I feel wonderful, doc. How about yourself?"

"We're doing well," Max said, "Just waiting–"

"Harry, what did you do to breathe Pandoran air?" Norm blurted. "It isn't possible! The sulfur and chlorine should have burned your lungs to dust by now."

Harry just shrugged and smiled at him, taking a deep breath just as he had done with Celia the night before. "It's like I said Norm, magic doesn't need to fit into your ideas of how the universe works. It just is." Harry didn't want to get into the deep swampy topic of Eywa's power and how it tied in with everything else. It was just too much, and the meeting between the occupants of Hell's Gate, the Na'vi, and the RDA was bound to start soon. "Have Jake and the Na'vi arrived yet?"

Norm reluctantly said that they had, allowing the topic of Harry's new respiration to drop, and they led him out into a large clearing of grass where a group of Na'vi and their banshees waited. They were speaking in their language to one another, but now Harry knew every word fluently.

Jake was there, as well as Neytiri and a few warriors. Harry didn't know any of them, but they looked mean and serious, older, strong males with bows and a quiver of four-foot arrows strapped to their backs. In the back, craning her long, slender neck around her mother and father, was Atan'iti. She smiled brightly at Harry as she saw him, and he grinned back.

Neytiri was speaking to the rest of the Na'vi in their language, "Look at this outcast. He is the despised of Eywa, and he even breathes our air, now!"

"Calm, Neytiri," Jake said to her in a tone that attempted to do what his words commanded. Jake was looking at Harry with sharp eyes, surprised and intensely curious. In English he said, "Harry, I wish to talk with you alone."

Harry nodded at the clan chief carefully, ignoring the glares of Neytiri and the worried frown of Atan'iti as he walked past the group of Na'vi, being led by Jake to the same secluded table behind the Avatar compound.

Jake looked at him appraisingly, and then said, "Harry, I have been both a human and a Na'vi for about the same amount of time, two decades each. And all of my experience from both lives tells me that you are an impossibility. I am not a scientist like Norm or Max, but I know what human technology is capable of, and what is beyond it. Your existence here, that old pink bubble that you called a force field, it is impossible. I saw you fall from the sky, from somewhere in space beyond the orbit of Pandora. That is impossible. Now you are breathing unfiltered air that should kill you within minutes, and Norm tells me you were outside all night.

"That is just what my human side tells me. My Na'vi life tells me that you are an outcast of Eywa. I can feel it in my bones, and yet that makes no sense either. How can Eywa reject someone without any reason? I know that she is afraid of you, but you are barely older than a child. Something about you scares her, even threatens and challenges her."

Jake looked Harry in the eye, his face a set grimace. "As clan chief of the Omaticaya, and rider of the last shadow, it is ultimately my decision as to what to do with you. So tell me, right now. Tell me everything."

Harry smiled at Jake, a respect for the older man growing in his chest. Jake felt all the prejudeces and fears of both his lives weighing upon him, but he still allowed Harry to explain himself, still opened his mind to the truth he sought. "I am a wizard that was born hundreds of years ago on Earth, at the closing of the twentieth century. When I was seventeen years old, I was pulled to Pandora by the power of Eywa in an attempt to save Pandora from a fate that I set in motion all those years ago. Now I'm here, with the magic of Earth and of Eywa behind me, trying to find a way to save your planet from destruction."

Jake looked at Harry, his expression never changing. "Can you prove it?" Jake asked. "Can you show me something that will prove that magic exists?"

Harry nodded, "What would you want me to do?"

Jake thought for a moment, studying him, "Make a rabbit appear from a hat."

Harry smiled at him and took his wand from his pocket. "This is what I made from the wood of Hometree. It is a magic wand." Harry conjured a black top hat and showed the inside of it to Jake. Jake took the hat and examined it, as much as to verify that the freshly created hat was real as to look for hidden compartments that could hide a rabbit. He handed it back to Harry, stunned, and Harry tapped the rim of the hat as he held it upside down. A rabbit leaped out of the hat, onto the table, and looked at Jake.

"Will that do?" the rabbit asked, before hat and rabbit disappeared in a wheeze and puff of smoke.

Jake slouched in his seat and exhaled a breath of air. "So it actually is true," he said. "And Atan'iti knew the entire time."

Harry nodded, going from excited to nervous, cautious. "Yes, she knew."

Jake looked at Harry, smiled, and clapped him on the shoulder, "It doesn't matter that she knew before me or not," he said, "I wasn't ready to accept the truth until this morning." He looked at Harry appraisingly, and removed his hand, "You are a strange young man, Harry."

Harry smiled at Jake and tucked his wand in his sleeve, "You don't know the half of it."

"Let's get this over with," Parker said as soon as the shuttle had landed and the engines whined down enough for everyone to hear each other. "I don't have very much time to … what the hell is this?"

He pointed at Harry and his lack of any rebreather, standing in between the Na'vi and the rebreather-clad Max. Parker looked scared.

"Hi," Harry said, "I'm Harry."

Parker turned to Norm, "You doing freaky science experiments on your own kid?" Parker asked, "That is just f–"

"I'm not his kid," Harry said, "I just kind of popped up on my own. Think of me as a fourth party in these negotiations, completely separate from anyone else."

Parker ignored Harry, "Norm, what is this? I don't want you pulling anything on me."

Norm looked nervous, but replied as calmly as he could, "We aren't trying anything to trick you. Harry is just… Harry. He just showed up one day, and we have no idea how."

Harry's smile was innocent as Parker looked him over, "Whatever you say, Norm. Doesn't really matter what you did to him or whose kid he is." He turned to Harry, "Just… sit quietly in the corner and you can talk to one of the onboard geeks here. Maybe they can fix whatever Norm and his people did to you." Parker waved to a man with glasses under his rebreather absently. The man looked like he wanted to dissect Harry.

"Thanks," Harry said, and he took a chair on a metal bench along the wall. The back of the transport had been opened to the outside air of Pandora, requiring that the humans wear rebreathers and the Na'vi's heads to hover uncomfortably close to the top of the ship. Along the walls were metal benches with safety harnesses, where Harry sat. A long table bolted to the floor stood in between the benches, and Parker and his small group took one side. Norm's group took the other side, and the small Na'vi party stood at the head of the table, the wide ramp open and the light of the Pandoran sun shining in from behind them. Harry slowly scooted away from the members of Hell's gate, towards the end of the table opposite the Na'vi, hoping the space would separate him from the other groups. _Image is everything_, he thought.

Parker looked at Harry sideways as he moved toward the edge of the table, further inside the ship, but didn't say anything. Instead, he looked at Norm's group, and grudgingly at Jake and Neytiri. "We need to begin mining again."

Jake looked at Parker, "Did you know that the areas you mined before still haven't recovered? They've barely got grasses growing on them. How can you expect us to allow that to begin again?"

Parker shrugged. "We aren't going away. We need Unobtainium, and we can make your lives here much harder if we don't come to a compromise. Here's how I see it, Jake. We make a deal, and things are a little bit harder for both of us. If we don't come to a compromise, then there is going to be one winner and one loser. Are you willing to take those odds?"

Jake looked to his wife, her stony face clear as to what she thought of Parker's summary of the Na'vi's choices. Harry wished he could know what Jake was thinking, and wished that Harry could tell him about the importance of Unobtainium. If Jake knew what Harry knew, there wouldn't even be negotiations. If the RDA took much more of Eywa's power away from the planet… Harry didn't even know what would happen. But the spirit of an entire planet had humbled itself and asked for Harry's help, so he knew that the results would be disastrous if Parker was allowed to continue mining.

Atan'iti was looking at him, her brows down in thought and intensity. He wondered if she was thinking the same thoughts as himself. He had told her everything last night, after all, but wasn't sure if she believed about the mysterious connection between Eywa and Unobtainium. But it was clear she knew that the decision her father came to could possibly destroy her people's goddess.

Harry gave her an encouraging smile. She smiled back slightly and gave him a nod.

"What type of mining do you propose?" Jake asked. "I will not allow the strip mining that the RDA practiced before, nor will you mine anywhere near a settlement of my people. I'm sure you've mapped out the entire planet. Do you have a suitable spot that will not disturb us?"

Parker smiled, "There are several veins just like that," he said. "We've also developed new resonance machines that have found several large veins in shallow seas. I'm sure that those would meet your requirements."

Neytiri turned to her husband and hissed at him in Na'vi, "Jake! What are you doing?"

"I am trying to save our people, Neytiri," Jake said.

"Pah! That is what you said last time, and we drove them away!"

"Only with the help of… Eywa," Jake said. He sounded hesitant to Harry.

"And she will help again!" Harry was amazed at the conviction he heard in Neytiri's voice. But then, she was the spiritual leader of the Omaticaya. Faith would be something of a necessity for someone in her position.

With a start he realized that her faith was totally righteous. After all, hadn't Eywa sent _Harry_ to protect Pandora. Wasn't Neytiri's prediction already fulfilled in the wizard sitting ten feet away from her?

"Neytiri, while that may be true, I cannot make a decision based on–"

"Come on!" Parker interrupted. "Stop with the gobbledygook and make a decision. There are very large veins in the oceans that will last us decades. Isn't that exactly what we both want?"

"It isn't gobbledygook," Harry said.

All the eyes in the shuttle turned towards Harry. None were more surprised than Neytiri and Parker. The others, Norm and Max, Jake and Atan'iti, seemed to expect him to interrupt at some point.

"What?" Parker said.

"I said it isn't gobbledygook. That was Na'vi. They're totally different languages."

Parker once again dismissed Harry, "Norm if you can't keep your treehugger son in–"

"I am not Norm's son, and I am not under the authority of anyone her but Eywa itself," Harry announced to the room. Everyone stopped and all eyes snapped to him again. Neytiri's angry glaring at Parker turned towards Harry and became a maelstrom. She was furious… absolutely and completely furious that he dared claim he came on Eywa's authority.

"What are you talking about?" Parker asked. He looked at Harry as if he was mentally unstable. At least he knew who Eywa was.

"I am sorry, but you will not be allowed to begin mining under any circumstances. The removal of any more Unobtainium will be disastrous for Pandora, no matter how cleanly it is mined. The removal itself will kill the planet, and therefore I will not allow it."

The room was shocked as they stared at Harry with new eyes. All at once recognition began to flare in the eyes of some. Norm, Max, Jake, Atan'iti. All at once, they realized what Harry was with a renewed clarity. Harry was breathing Pandoran air,_ like a native_. _Like I belong here_, Harry thought with a self-satisfied smile. Even Neytiri seemed to be coming to see his position more clearly.

Jake was staring at Harry most intently, a searching that tried to piece through Harry's skin, into his motivations and intentions. Harry gave the chief a nod, and the older man seemed to understand.

"If that is how it must be," Jake said, "Then that is how it must be." I suggest you tell the board of directors of the RDA as soon as possible. Maybe they can come up with an alternative to Unobtainium."

Neytiri gave a shout and a smile at her husband, and surprisingly, towards Harry. It was, however, quickly subdued as she realized it was directed at him.

"You're kidding me," Parker said. "You are actually going to let a freak kid tell you what to do?"

"We will not start any wars, Parker," Jake said, "But we will fight one if you force us to."

"It won't be a war," Parker said with a snort, "It will be a bump in the road. Do you think the RDA has been twiddling its thumbs all this time? Every spare dollar was committed to this project, and we're guaranteed to win if it comes to a fight. I'm willing to stay out of your hair if you stay out of mine. You can even keep Hell's Gate if you promise to let us set up elsewhere, and we'll take anyone back to Earth who wishes to go, no strings attached." He looked at Jake, "This is a good deal Jake."

Jake looked at Harry, and Harry slowly shook his head. No matter how good the deal was, Pandora would still die with the removal of its Unobtainium. "The answer is no, Parker. I'm sorry. I hope that you'll leave us in peace, because that's all we want with you."

Parker sat there with his mouth open, his jaw hanging by the skin of his cheeks. "You're serious?"

Jake nodded.

Parker sighed and placed his palms upon the table, looking at his fingernails intently. "Fine," he said, "I guess this meeting is over, then. I'll radio back to the board and tell them what you've told me. Expect to hear from me tomorrow."

He stood, and the rest of the humans followed suit. The Na'vi, already standing, turned to leave without ceremony. Norm and Abe's Hell's Gate group followed next, and Harry was last.

As Harry was about to walk down the ramp, Parker caught his arm, his breath hard and angry against the inside of his rebreather. "You're an idiot, kid." And with that, he shoved Harry down the ramp. Harry stumbled on the steep metal surface and fell down in the dirt.

Harry stood slowly, his wrists aching. They weren't broken, but he had fallen on them the wrong way. He hadn't been able to reach his wand with Parker, surprisingly strong, holding his arm so tightly. Harry stood, and saw a standoff between two groups. The Na'vi warriors had their bows in hand, arrows drawn back to their fullest. The nasty arrowheads pulled inches from the flexible wood. On Parker's side guns were drawn. Two of the men had small rifles they had hidden in their vests, and even the leering scientist held a pistol. The sides were glaring at each other, with Harry in the no man's land.

Atan'iti had her bow drawn, but she suddenly realized Harry might've been hurt. She rushed over to him, seeming to forget Parker's men, "Harry Potter! Are you alright?" A shot rang out, echoed from the steel belly of the orbital transport, and someone fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

Parker and his men ran inside the ship as the engines whined into life. The rear hatch shut quickly and the arrows that the Na'vi warriors loosed hit only metal.

Harry turned to see who was shot, and saw Atan'iti on the ground. She held her shoulder, but Harry could see blood seeping out between her fingers. He removed his wand from his sleeve and bent over her, "Just like last time," he said with a smile.

During the war with Voldemort, Harry had to deal with shrapnel wounds, pieces of wood and glass and stone that had pierced into the bodies of his allies. A bullet would be just the same. Harry checked under Atan'iti's shoulder for an exit wound. There was none, so Harry cast a spell to vanish the bullet inside of Atan'iti's shoulder. That done, he cast a general purpose healing spell, which closed up the wound. There was still a small scar left behind. "Being near me seems to get you hurt, doesn't it?" Harry asked in relief. "First your ankle, and then you get shot trying to save me."

Atan'iti's eyes had been closed as he healed her and started to speak to her, but they snapped open during his relieved comments. Two epiphanies hit Harry at the same moment. One, he may have accidentally connected himself too closely to Atan'iti's encounter with this Thanator form, and two, he had been speaking in perfect Na'vi.

Harry smiled at her and made her body float upright, to the amazement of everyone that had now surrounded them, both Human and Na'vi. Harry set her down on her feet softly, feeling embarrassed and sheepish at the circle around them and what he had dumbly allowed them to witness. _I would do it again though_, he thought. He wouldn't let Atan'iti suffer for one more moment than she had to, regardless of how non-lethal the injury had been.

He was thinking of something to say to the surrounding crowd, when explosions rocked around Hell's gate. Ten red, glaring fireballs stretched into the sky around the edge of the camp, each where the automated defense turrets had been guarding the sky for unwanted aircraft.

The group around Harry scattered in screams and shouts for order. The Na'vi party moved swiftly to their banshees, and Harry followed them, unsure of what to do.

As the roar of the explosions hung in the camp, Harry shouted at himself, furious with his failure to act. The war had started, and Parker had won the first round decisively.


	16. A Moment in Time

The ten plumes of fire climbed high into the sky as Harry trailed Atan'iti and the Na'vi party. The echo of the roar still hung in his ears, like the static of a television being broadcast from unseen corners. It was deep and guttural and strong, reinforced by the heat that was pressing against him from ten sides. The explosions were enormous, and he could feel their heat.

"Jake! Atan'iti!

Atan'iti looked back towards Harry, her expression unreadable. Was it fierceness in her eyes, a desire to get revenge on Parker? They were blazing with an intensity that made the fireballs around the clearing of Hell's Gate shrink back. She leaped on her Ikran and took to the sky with a cry that sounded as if she was going to war.

She was going to war, Harry thought. Parker's ship was still visible as it ascended into the sky, and the Na'vi warrior party was circling up to meet Parker.

Harry raised his blood red wand into the air "_Accio_ Firebolt!" The broom came racing out to him from the Avatar quarters, where his things had been moved to that morning. Harry snatched it out of the air and shot upwards, quickly overtaking the Ikran. The Na'vi had to deal with the straining wings of their flying beasts, but Harry's broom was fueled with pure, limitless magic. He flew vertical and straight, traveling a bullet's path to his target in the distance. The small metal craft became larger and larger, and Harry was sure he would overtake it shortly.

Then the craft began burning another set of engines, and a roar surrounded Harry, as if he was back down in the center of the destruction of Hell's Gate. Then a shockwave hit Harry and his muscles locked up. His vision disappeared through a tunnel, sucked away from his eyes by the shockwave. He blinked and tried to open his eyes to tear away the blackness, but he found they were already open.

He couldn't think, the roar had rushed into his ears and assaulted his brain. He felt his hands slip away from the smooth handle of his Firebolt and he knew he was falling. He tried to reach for his wand, tried to grasp at the broom he couldn't see, but his muscles didn't work.

The wind replaced the roar of the engines, sweeping Harry's vision back into his eyes. He was falling. The forest below shifted behind a kaleidoscope. Trees moved in circular patters upon their deep roots, walking like the feet of millipedes. They milled together and apart like dancers in unison, a huge choreography of plush greenery. Then Harry realized through his stunned haze that it was him that was spinning. He was spinning through the air on his head, mouth slightly opened in shock, his cheeks rippling violently in the torrent of wind blowing into his mouth and eyes. The wind was cold, and it made his eyes water and blurred the sharpness of the leaves. Despite the jungle world, the wind was cold, so cold it stabbed his skin with knives. He was going to die, when the kaleidoscope met him.

"Harry Potter!" yelled a voice from beside him. It was quiet, whisked away by the wind in an attempt to steal it entirely from his ears. Harry knew the wind did not want him to hear. It was trying to isolate him, dulling his vision and hearing, pricking at him, overloading his skin with sensation. It wanted Harry, and would not give him up.

Harry turned towards the quiet yell, and he could see a person on the back of a dragon. He laughed in his mind. Dragons had died out so long ago, so what could the thing beside him be? And who was so fierce that they could ride it?

"Grab my hand, Harry Potter!" the figure shouted. Harry blinked his eyes, tears being torn away by the tempest of wind. It was not a dragon, nor was the person in its back only a figure. It was Atan'iti.

Harry reached for Atan'iti's outstretched hand, and he felt her five long fingers wrap around his wrist. Then she pulled him to her, holding him with one hand as she flattened her Ikran out.

The wind was chased away by their slowing, and it faded from Harry's ears. A veil lifted from Harry's mind as the noise and feel of the wind disappeared, and he looked up towards Atan'iti. She had saved his life.

Harry shook his head and let out a laugh. Shaking against her as she held him close. They were still far from the ground. His fogged mind had been right after all. The figure he had seen through the tempest was fierce enough to ride a dragon. Unfortunately, there were no dragons around for her to try it with. Harry was sure she could though, and would try, given the chance.

"You are brave, Harry Potter," Atan'iti said in her native Na'vi. "But a stupid bravery, like a child." She said it with a smile though. Harry just shook his head. She _was_ very much like Hermione. She was the first one to mention his saving people thing. It wasn't quite the same, but very similar.

"Y'know, Atan'iti, sometimes the difference between fate and choice is smaller than a hair." And in this case it was true. According to Eywa, in her very nasty presentation of the facts, Harry was fated to save worlds. He and his race had been fated to save Earth, and now he had been fated to safe Pandora. But when people like Atan'iti were the ones to save, Harry figured it really didn't matter. Ignoring his destiny completely, he would still fight for her.

She looked at him in a way as if to wonder if the shockwave of the booster engines had scrambled his brains. Harry just laughed again.

Things on the ground of Hell's Gate were a mess as the Harry and Atan'iti landed. The explosions had long since stopped, but small fires still burned at the sites of the ruined defense perimeter. Residents of Hell's Gate were out there, managing the fires before they managed to spread, although that was unlikely with such a damp environment. No, the debris and rubble wasn't the main cause of the uproar of the residents, it was Norm's daughter, Celia.

"I didn't mean to!" she wailed, tears of grief streaming down her cheeks. She was kneeling next to her mother's body, resting on the ground. A sharp piece of metal debris was lodged in her stomach, jutting out sideways like a spear. Norm was there as well, leaning over his wife, weeping and pushing on her chest rhythmically. "He told me we could all go home! He promised no one would be hurt…"

Harry could see Celia's eyes, sorrowful and angry, but also strangely empty. How could expression hold such contradictory things? Harry could see a white bed on poles being run out to them by two residents of Hell's Gate, but Harry rushed over, pulling out his wand to see what could be done for her, if anything. He performed some basic charms to see what was wrong, another thing learned from his time on the battlefield against Voldemort, and the results were not good.

"Are you healing her?" Norm asked Harry as he came back up from blowing into his wife's mouth. He began the pumping above her heart again, but looked at Harry, hopeful.

"I don't think I can," Harry replied. "I may be able to stop her from… keep her here temporarily, but other than that…"

"Do it," Norm ordered.

Harry did, wondering if he was making a mistake. During his fight against Voldemort, Harry had only been taught a sort of stasis spell for serious wounds, the idea being that he could keep an ally alive long enough for them to receive expert treatment from a real healer. But now there were no healers left, and he doubted that Muggle surgery could fix the damage done, no matter how much it has advanced since the twenty-first century.

Healing magic did not care if a person's heart was beating or not. Instead, it relied upon the spark of life that each person had. If the spark was still there, that soul of the person, then the stasis spell would keep her alive. Her heart began to beat, slow, sustained by Harry's spell.

Norm must have felt it, because he asked, "Was that you?"

Harry nodded, anguished by the hope in Norm's voice. "Yeah, but…" He wanted to tell the truth, but couldn't do it. He couldn't tell Norm that the heartbeat meant nothing in his wife's fight for survival. "Yeah, that was me." He was a coward.

The two Harry had seen before arrived with their bed on metal poles, a man and a woman. Harry assumed they were doctors, for they picked her up with confident motions and placed her over the white cloth, between the poles, before picking her up between them and walking quickly back towards the airlock. Norm followed them without a word to Harry, in a daze. Celia was still there, on the ground, knees folded under her. She was looking at the spot of blood that had been left by her mother.

"It wasn't hard, y'know?" Celia said. "Dad taught me everything about the computer systems, in case I needed to take over in an emergency. It wasn't hard to overload the guns, and then turn off the fail-safe before they exploded." She looked at Harry, tearing away her gaze from her mother's blood. "I didn't stop to think who I would hurt," she said, looking up at Harry. "Parker said that if I got rid of the guns then he would be able to land his ships and take everyone back to Earth."

Harry looked at Celia, her face defeated and uncaring, and found he didn't know what to say. He didn't need to say anything to her, really. She had made a decision as a child, uninformed and naïve, that had adult consequences. Where had the girl gone who loved to read about her home planet as she watched the other, littler children of Hell's Gate? She had died with the manslaughter of her mother, Harry thought. Celia had made a mistake, a huge one.

"It doesn't matter what Parker told you," Harry said finally. "Your dad was always going to fight him. So were the Na'vi. The circumstances were nonnegotiable for both sides." Celia hung her head, and Harry turned away. He wanted to help her, say some comforting words, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. She was, although young, a traitor. She was old enough to know what she did.

"Harry Potter," Atan'iti said from beside him, "Is there anything you can do for Norm's mate?" Harry shook his head, and Atan'iti took his arm in her hand, "Then follow me. My father and his party have decided to stay and speak with Norm when they are able. It is time to lay the specifics of our war."

"Yeah, let's go talk with Jake," Harry said, "I can tell him about what help I can lend."

Atan'iti shook her head, and instead pointed towards the jungle, "You need peace, Harry Potter. Let us go and speak alone, friend to friend."

Harry nodded, and followed Atan'iti away from Celia, who once again had tears streaming down her face. They passed Jake and the small band of Na'vi warriors. Jake looked at Harry and his daughter, an unreadable look on his face. Neytiri also had the look on her face, but was clearly tinged with a disapproval. It was no longer the one of outright hatred towards Harry. Instead, it was as if she found she didn't like him for a totally new set of reasons. As for the warriors, all young men around Atan'iti's age, their expressions toward Harry and Atan'iti differed greatly. Some wore wry looks, some uncaring, but a few held glares of plain dislike. All of those last were directed plainly at Harry.

He put the Na'vi and Atan'iti's parents from his mind. He couldn't really give the effort to deal with their opinions of him right now. In fact, he was becoming rather callous to what they thought of him. It seemed everyone on this moon had opinions and expectations of him, that is, except for Atan'iti.

They passed the treeline, into the jungle proper, and Atan'iti led Harry to a downed log, overgrown with glowing moss that almost made it seem as if it moved. Ever since Harry's lung's change in preference, and the subsequent removal of his bubblehead charm, everything was brighter and sharper. The charm was annoying in the fact that it caused everything to have a pinkish hue. But now, Harry could see the beauty of Pandora in all its feral glory.

Harry sat, and Atan'iti sat next to him, her slim form towering above him, tail swishing out over the curve of the log. Harry wished that he were as large as the Na'vi. Despite being a moon, Polyphemus was actually larger than Earth. It was something of an anomaly, actually, compared to Harry's home planet. It was larger, and yet less dense, with slightly lower gravity. These two aspects of the moon caused large, sleek creatures. Humans were like clumsy children to the Na'vi's graceful largeness.

"Why are you so foolish, Harry Potter?" Atan'iti said from beside him. Her voice was angry.

Harry looked up at her, shocked. "Wha-"

"You chase the Sky People's craft with no cares in the world! You are like my father when he was learning our ways, foolish as a child!"

Despite his weariness, Harry's anger began to swell, "Don't tell me what to do Atan'iti-"

"When I gave you the vine from the Tree of Souls, and told my father to give you a branch from Hometree, I knew you would fight against the Sky People, but fighting does not mean going out to die!"

"Needlessly?" Harry asked, standing. "You have no idea what I can and can't do!"

"I do not, Harry Potter," Atan'iti conceded, "But I do know you would have died. I barely caught you. It was foolish!"

Harry turned from Atan'iti, "Why do you even care?" he asked. "I promised your parents I would fight for them, I promised Norm and Max I would fight for them too, so what more is there to talk about?"

Atan'iti was silent for a moment, and when she spoke her voice was softer, "Harry P… Harry… I am your friend."

"Is that so?" Harry asked, "If I remember correctly, it was you and I that first negotiated our little _deal_. You get me the materials I need for my wand, and I help save Pandora from Parker! Well guess what? You already fulfilled your part of the deal; so let me take care of mine! Don't bother pretending to worry about anything else."

"Harry…I–" Atan'iti said. Her voice was quiet now, and a little unsteady. Harry didn't really care how she felt though. She was just looking for his help. In fact, she was the _first _on Pandora who saw the benefits of recruiting Harry.

Harry just waved her off, running into the jungle. He needed time to think, and he hadn't explored the jungle in a while, not since before the bubblehead charm was no longer needed. He wanted to be _free._

As soon as he was out of sight of Atan'iti he changed smoothly into the thanator. His speed and grace increased tenfold as he shot of into the woods, his padded feet whispering on the jungle floor. Despite the quickly growing distance of Atan'iti, Harry's sensory quills could still sense her– _smell_ her, in a sense. He could feel her perspiration; her seething yet suppressed anger, and strangely, fear and sadness.

A growing part of Harry wanted to run back to her, lope up in his sleek, graceful body, and nuzzle her in apology. Harry shook his black head to clear it. Nuzzle? He let out a growling chuckle at the sideways lean of his emotions.

He knew he had been cruel to Atan'iti, but the expectations of everyone around him had grown to a boil inside of him. Even Pandora itself wanted his help, voiced through the male Eywa. _So the solution to that is to snap at the one who seems to care about you?_

Harry stopped his sprint through the forest and sat on his haunches. He was a fool for yelling at her like that. Thinking back, he knew that she was worried about his recklessness. Probably because she really _did_ think him as a friend. The more Harry learned of Atan'iti, the more he realized that she was rather lonely. The Na'vi were highly sociable people, needing companionship on a much higher level than humans. He suspected it was because they had their queue. It allowed them to be so intimate with the world around them, and so naturally, their culture would be one of almost universal understanding and consideration. Sure it was wrapped in a veil of a fierce warrior society, but it was definitely there.

Atan'iti was something of a loner. She was similar to Celia in the fact that the Sky People fascinated her. Harry had thought once, during his nights of pondering, that she might actually consider taking the chance at traveling to Earth, if she could get back to Pandora after she had fulfilled her burning curiosity.

_How many friends does she actually have? Am I actually her best friend?_ The thought was powerful. Harry turned his large thanator head back towards the direction he sensed Atan'iti. She hadn't moved from the log. _Am I her best friend?_ The thought came again, and it was just as powerful. It caused his heart to twist in a circle in his chest. His anger turned and vanished, just as a wizard disapparated. The thought was so strong that it caused a shift in Harry's entire perspective of her. _Her best friend just rejected her._ _I just stepped on her trust in me. I accused her of deception and manipulation._ Harry wondered if she even understood what he had accused her of, understood what feelings his unthinking words may have caused in her. When the English landed in the New World, the settlers traded with the native peoples– beads and trinkets for islands. The Indians did not understand the idea of land ownership, but their interaction with the white man had still changed them. They had still lost access to the islands they hadn't known they were giving away.

Jake said that the Na'vi knew nothing of lying. What would the idea of deception and manipulation cause in the emotions of a Na'vi? The two words were like the spawn of a lie. Lying was the base ingredient of the two, but they were something much more. They were lies with malice, lies with selfishness.

_Atan'iti!_ Harry shouted in his mind as he dashed back towards her, straining his muscles to go faster, faster. He wanted to reach her, to see her. His stray though from earlier came back. He wanted to place his leathery skull in her lap, feel her hand on his jaw and neck.

Harry burst through the brush, over the fallen log. He landed on his four forepaws, and twisted, setting paws down into the loamy soil as he turned to see her. She was there, on the other side of the log, crouched and stance spread wide, one leg bent and one out long to the side, ready to run or pounce. Her hands were out in front of her as if she was wrestling, her fingers tense and clawed. Her tail was still, afraid to move. Harry ducked his head and let out a friendly growl, the same he had done the first time he met her. He bent his fore-knees and met her eyes. Her face lit in recognition, and her fear vanished. Still, she approached carefully. He was still a thanator, after all. She held her queue in her hand, and Harry hesitated. Should he let her make the connection again?

She moved closer, and closer still, and Harry saw the tears in her eyes. She had been weeping freely before his arrival, and Harry knew that his wild thought before had truth in them.

When he looked back the moment, this moment right now, from the years and decades, he knew that it had been her tears that had made the decision for him. The tears were as revealing as any connection of tendrils from the nervous system. They were a window as they slid down her royal cheeks, falling across bioluminescent dots that were single parts of a flashing pattern all across her body. The tears had resolved his doubts into steely determination. He _would_ not lose her.

Atan'iti made the bond with Harry's queue, and immediately he could feel her entireness in his mind. This time, he did not hide behind a shield of Occlumency. Instead, he spoke with her in a way more intimate and more profound than he ever had before– with anyone. She was connected with him, her thought his and his thoughts hers. They were, on a deep level, _one._ Harry spoke with her. Bundled with his words was his entirety. His life, his pains, his secrets, the entire history of his life and his thoughts were sent to her, etched upon her as she had etched herself upon him on their first bonding. He knew that now. She had written herself upon him, before. He sent himself to her with the words:

"I see you."

Author's Notes:

Yeah! Wasn't that fun?

And now a story of a different sort.

My wife was looking the screen, reading as I was writing this chapter. I could tell that she was snickering at what I was writing. In retribution, I changed my narrative to something a bit… raunchier. Here is what I was able to get down before she hit me on the shoulder:

Her loincloth streamed in the wind, wrapping and twisting around her sinuous tail. "Please ma'am," Harry asked, "May I grab your tail?"

Atan'iti looked back, eyebrows quirked, "Yes," she said breathlessly. Her tail perked in anticipation.


	17. The Day is Over

Harry had no need to examine Atan'iti's face to discover the reaction to her bond with Harry. She was connected with him, so her shock and numbness was his own. She was completely stunned. She didn't know what to think. Was this good? Did she want to be bonded to Harry? She didn't know, and Harry knew she didn't know what to think.

Regret and shame began to overtake Harry. He had made a mistake. He just wanted to comfort her, to let her know the depth of his devotion. He had felt something during that moment of clarity as he ran from her, but now he was wondering if he had made a mistake. She hadn't known who she was making the bond with. Had he done what Snape had done all those years ago?

Then something strange popped into his head. It was an attempt at comfort. He looked at Atan'iti, and saw she was looking back at him steadily. She was scared herself, but she still sent shy faltering bursts of confidence through to him. The bond did not carry words. The bond was not mind-reading or a form of thought exchange. So she said to him, "Your mind is so strange to me, Harry. It is…" her mouth quirked, "very alien."

Harry wanted to change back into his human form, to explain his reason for returning. He wanted to tell her about how much he admired her, how he felt they were something of kindred spirits, connected by shared experience and struggle. But to change back to his human form was to lose the bond through his queue, and he didn't know if he could handle that. He felt that the mingling of selves that they were now going through could not be stopped so soon after it had started.

"I am confused, Harry," Atan'iti admitted. Harry could tell that she was uncomfortable, but felt a duty to speak, "I am happy at this connection between us, but you… you are not Na'vi. I don't know what to think."

Harry understood her concern. He was not Na'vi. With the bond between them, according to Na'vi custom, they were married. The Na'vi called it bonded. But he was not Na'vi. He wasn't even an Avatar. He was a human mind inside of a shell that just happened to have a queue. How could he match the expectations that Na'vi culture would have of him? How could he take care of his new wife in a way he was obligated to do? Did this even count as marriage?

Apparently, while his literal thoughts were not transferred over, his emotions were, "I am confused as well," Atan'iti said out loud, in her language, "But we will find a way. I'm sure it will work out."

With her confidence, her reassurance, Harry knew that he had been fortunate in his choice. He had done her a disservice. He had not given her a choice in the matter, not really, and yet she was not angry. She could feel his earnestness, and accepted it. His pittance offering of simple, true commitment was enough for her. She accepted it. And Harry knew they would find a way.

The ground underneath Harry and Atan'iti rumbled, like a far-away explosion had struck the ground with its fist.

"Harry," Atan'iti said. Harry looked at her, feeling the worry that flowed into him. Atan'iti was looking at the sky, where Harry could see twenty smoky streaks trail from space. They seemed to originate from the same spot, but as they dropped and got closer, he could see the trails spread our around them. _Spread out around Hell's Gate_, he thought. The day wasn't over yet.

* * *

Private Miller was not feeling well. Apparently his orbital drop pod wasn't quite in full working order, the internal anti-rotation mechanism of his pod was not moving as fast in the opposite direction as the outer shell was spinning. Because of this discrepancy in counter-rotation, Private Miller felt as if he was being spun around on a tire swing hung from a metal pole, twisting in circles at the hands of unseen bullies. He was sure he would sick up as the altitude readout in front of him blurred. He could tell he was on track from the shifting, warping image in front of him, and the anti-rotation mechanism would not affect the safety of his landing, but he wished he would have all his senses about him as he landed. Parker had told the first regiment that they would be going in hot, and sicking up inside of his rebreather would not be the best way to stay alert when being attacked by nine-foot monsters.

He had been told all about savage Pandora during his many briefings before his battalion departed Earth. He knew what to expect, and barf covering his visor would be _bad_.

Miller felt a shock through the strengthened material of the pod, then another, harder. He was only five hundred feet from the surface, falling fast. He was crashing through the high foliage of the Pandoran jungle, just a few seconds now. A final, huge boom shook him, buckling his knees. But the pod did as it was designed to do and allowed him to survive a drop from orbit. He didn't even vomit as the spinning stopped abruptly, his eyes continuing to spin in his head for a few seconds afterwards.

Then the door opened, and Miller saw the Pandoran jungle for the first time. It was savage, yes, but Miller couldn't help but think that it was a _beautiful_ savagery. Through the newly developed ferro-silicate, a transparent steel, of his rebreather, he could see the giant fungal growths of the moon-larger-than-Earth. The trees towered above him in alien majesty, and even though they blotted out the light of the gas giant and the sun, an eternal glow lit the area around him. Where his pod crashed he could see moss lighting up excitedly, a wave of activity that seemed to light up the vines climbing up the tree, caused the giant ferns to sway more actively. Out and out the message of his arrival traveled, off into the unseen distance. It was bizarre, but beautiful.

"Miller!" A voice came through his earpiece. It was that of his Sergeant. "You touch down safely? Get to the rendezvous!

"Yes sir," Miller replied, and he called up the directions to the point, being beamed down from the ISV. GPS did not work on Pandora. All navigation was optically calculated, beamed down from satellite networks that, though borderline AI image recognition, and could guide him in a way that was undistinguishable from actual triangulation.

Every time Miller brushed past the glowing green undergrowth of the Pandoran jungle, bioluminescent dots made their disapproval at being disturbed by Miller's hand. He had a machete in a calf holster, but for some reason did not wish to use it. There was something about the reactions of the plants that made them more alive. Regardless, plant life was basically non-existent back on Earth, except for a few carefully preserved bio-houses, but even those reserves could not compare with the vibrant life that surrounded him here. The plant life back in the bio-houses of Earth were carefully cordoned off from each other, with plaques naming where the sample used to be found in nature. There was not animal life in the bio-houses, but hidden speakers would occasionally ring out a bird call or growl of a tiger, to simulate realism. Where he was now, nothing was simulated. Every wisp of moss on a trunk, swaying, glowing fern, every hidden eye that looked upon him from up in the trees and down on the ground, it was all _real_.

It was then Miller wondered if he was doing the right thing, helping the RDA secure this living biological wonder for a dead metal, strip mining the land in areas that they found rich with the metal, regardless of what it destroyed. He shook his head and took out his machete, cutting through a particularly tough tangle of hanging vines, and emerging into a clearing where his fire team was waiting for him. Earth needed Pandora to survive. Sentimentality had no place here.

"Let's go," Sergeant said, and Miller and the other two followed. They were to move into the clearing of Hell's Gate from the north, and a number of other fire teams were doing the same from other directions. "Remember the rules," the Sergeant reminded them. They were not supposed to fire upon humans unless fired upon, but they were allowed to engage any native that held a weapon or might have easy access to a weapon. Miller thought the rules of engagement for the natives were very loose, but when he had looked around to see if anyone else was uncomfortable with the orders, he saw no other searching eyes.

The fire team moved out, Miller, the Sergeant, the medic, who carried medi-gel, extra rebreathers, and strangely enough, extra magazines for their rifles, and Ferris. Miller didn't like Ferris. The man was too… eager. The man in question looked over to Miller with something in his face, "You excited, rookie?" he asked.

"Just hoping no one gets killed," Miller responded.

Ferris nodded, but then said, "Besides the natives, right?" Miller thought the man's chuckle afterwards was the chuckle of a devil.

The Sergeant was in front of the group, leading them closer to Hell's Gate. They were close now, only about fifty feet out from the treeline. The Sergeant's voice rang in Miller's ear, "Quiet! I hear something just ahead."

Miller heard it too. It was someone speaking, and he recognized it as the language of the native people. He had no idea what they were saying, but it was easy to connect it with the gibberish he had heard from recordings aboard the ISV. Miller glanced at Ferris, who was grinning, Ferris winked at him.

The Sergeant gave the hand signal for the other three men to surround the voice, and Miller slowly creeped through the underbrush, spreading around the spot where he had heard the voice. "Move in," the Sergeant's voice said in his ear, and Miller moved forward, stepping over a mossy trunk with a heavily booted foot. The strange guttural voice was still coming from in front of Miller. It sounded female. He knew that they were large, but for some reason the voice made the unseen Na'vi seem almost human, if you ignored the fact that it was in different language.

Miller broke through the brush at about the same time as the rest of his fire team. Miller knew that they were large, but he never expected the grace that came with being Na'vi. The woman was standing tall, noticing them as soon as they broke through the brush. The native wasn't alone, though. Next to her, standing a staggering six feet at the shoulders, was what Miller knew to be a thanator. It was connected to the Na'vi native through their strange braids, although he had not been told that was possible. The thanator was the apex ground predator, and killed Na'vi if they happened to cross its path.

"Damn, they're big!" Ferris said with a laugh, his rifle was aimed steadily at the thanator, but he also kept a wary glance at the Na'vi woman. Miller looked at the Na'vi woman, dressed in thinly draped cloths that covered her chest and hips– barely. Her skin was blue, striped with darker patches like pictures of tigers that Miller had seen. On the Na'vi's face, and across and down her body little pinpricks of light reverberated, an orange-red. It was a fitting color, he thought, she looked furious.

"Calm down, pussycat," Ferris said. He must've noticed it too.

"Ferris!" the Sergeant said. He looked at the Na'vi woman, "Can you understand me? Put down your weapons and you won't be hurt. Make sure you control the thanator too."

"You are foolish for coming here," the Na'vi woman said, "It is no place for you." Miller looked from the Na'vi woman and her pulsing bioluminescence, her blooming anger, toward the thanator. He swallowed a mouthful of filtered rebreather air when he saw the creature looking back at him, level. Miller was a tall man, and yet this thanator's evil yellow eyes were level with his. They looked too intelligent, too knowing. He had never seen a live animal before this one, but there was no way they were this smart, was there?

"That sounds like a threat," Ferris growled. He turned his rifle from the thanator onto the Na'vi woman.

Then many things happened at once. The thanator raised its colorful quills from behind its head, Ferris began to say something else, the Sergeant tried to admonish him again, the Na'vi woman reached behind her, the medic shouted something that may have been, "Knife!"

And Ferris fired his weapon. The shots rang out through the buzzing wet sounds of the jungle and the shuffling of suddenly active figures. A fierce animal screech came from the thanator as it pounced on Ferris, its clawed paw bending his neck to his shoulder with one powerful swipe. At the same time the Na'vi woman moved, faster than Miller could've thought possible. She bent backwards as she pulled a knife out from a concealed sheathe on her bow case. She kicked the Sergeant's gun into the air as he squeezed the trigger. The Na'vi woman was flipping backwards as she tore her knife free and stabbed it into the medic's rebreather. The rebreather was a clear steel, and so it did not shatter like glass. Instead, it took the force of the Na'vi woman's blow and transferred it directly into where it touched the man's face. His head too snapped back at an unnatural angle, and he dropped.

Miller did not think. He did not know what was happening. He was being attacked, his fire team was being overwhelmed. He leveled his rifle at the colorful quills of the thanator before it recovered from pouncing Ferris and squeezed the trigger. The rifle recoiled once, twice, three times, with cracks that pierced over the screaming sounds coming from the Sergeant as the Na'vi woman plunged her knife into him. The blinding flashes coming from the muzzle of the rifle blinded Miller for just a split second, but as he blinked once to refocus his eyes he saw the thanator lying on the ground, unmoving. It hadn't even let out a screech of protest.

Then Miller heard something that froze him, burned his soul. The Na'vi woman let out a cry of absolute rage. He looked at her falling through the air from where she had leapt up, leaving behind the corpse of the Sergeant. Her face was twisted with hatred, her thin eyebrows lost in the unnatural creases of a twisted face. Her mouth was wide in her raging scream, white teeth shining through cheeks splattered with red blood. Her cat eyes were striking lightning, and Miller's last thought was that they were identical. She was the thanator.

* * *

Atan'iti pulled her knife from the last Sky People warrior and turned to Harry, who lay unmoving on the ground. She dropped the bloody blade to the ground and rushed over to the sleek black body of the thanator, praying to Eywa that he was not dead. She had not seen where the arrows from the Sky People weapons had gone into him, but she had heard them loosed from the one she had just killed. She fell to her knees just as the first tears fell to her cheeks and took Harry's head into her lap. Then she saw where the arrows had entered Harry.

Atan'iti looked to the sky and cried, holding Harry's head in her lap. She yelled tears at the Sky People and at Eywa, and even a few at Harry himself. Her mate, her Harry was dead. His soul had fled to Eywa, locked away from her until she herself died. But even there… even united together after death they would not be mated. They would be together, but their togetherness would be shared by all the other ancestors that had ever lived. She had been denied the opportunity to have Harry, to greedily hoard him all to herself.

The last Sky Person had killed him with his arrows as effectively as any master hunter killed a thanator. He had placed his arrows just under the base of the sense quills on the back of the skull, where the flesh was soft.

Atan'iti cried and wailed to everyone and everything that had denied her the mate she wanted. She knew it now. She had wanted Harry. She wanted Harry now, anyways. Did she only want him now because he was gone? Looking down on Harry's open, glassy eyes she knew. No. She did not want him just because he was gone. She wanted him because he wanted her. She wanted him because he had shared everything with her. He had given her everything, and would have thought that she was the best gift that he could have received in return. He had been _right._

Atan'iti didn't know how long she has there, crying and rocking and holding her dead mate, but eventually she rose and performed the rights to send Harry's soul to Eywa. Then she picked up her knife and dried the thirsty blade on one of the Sky People's uniforms. She had work to do.


	18. A Meeting of Three

The damp fern frond that hovered in front of Atan'iti's nose dripped a steady drip as she peered into the clearing of Hell's Gate. Three groups of sky people were moving cautiously out into the clearing, bows raised and pointed at the still-confused mass of colonists. The colonists had just regained their composure after the explosions around the compound, and seemed to slip into a daze when they saw the enemy hunters approaching. They moved in, closer to the dead grey buildings of the Sky People, and Atan'iti crept around the edge of Hell's Gate, using the thick plants to disguise her advance.

Before, she had been curious about the Sky People. She had often wondered if they had been demonized by her parents. After all, the residents that had lived in Hell's Gates all her life were nothing but friendly. She had attended school as a child, and often returned to visit after she had become a hunter. The Sky People she had known were wonderful. They were kind-hearted. They were the same as the Na'vi, except smaller and pinker.

She had met Harry at the school, her mate. He had shown her something new and extraordinary. He had taken care of her and healed her injury after she had been injured in her clumsiness. Harry Potter was... had been... from Earth. He was a Sky Person.

But these little men with their strange masks and clothes and weapons, they were not like the others. A sinister glow existed around them. She could feel it, and it grew stronger as she got closer. She could smell their scent and it was like salt. It stung her nose. She hated them. Her mate had been slain by these little demons, and she wanted retribution. She wanted vengeance.

Atan'iti knew that vengeance was an emotion that the Na'vi did not naturally possess. Revenge was something that her father had spoken of when Atan'iti had asked about what the Sky People were like. Before, she had not understood exactly what her father had meant, but now she knew. She had more human blood in her than she had thought. She loved Harry, after all, and her father was born a human. Vengeance was her inheritance, it was her dower. And so Atan'iti removed her bow from her back and notched an arrow, taking aim at the group of four men nearest her. As she drew, she whispered to Eywa, "Guide my arrow as you guide my mate. Let them both find their way home."

The arrow released with a deadly twang and shot across the large gap. The arrow slid through the first man's gut as Atan'iti loosed a second. Her second buried in the man's chest. By the time Atan'iti's third arrow was in flight the two remaining men moved into action. One dove to the side, behind a building while the other just spun and fired. Atan'iti ran quickly and silently behind a tree, but the man's arrows never even came close. She peeked her head out from the other side and drew a third arrow, which silenced the barking of the man's weapon as he fell to his knees, holding the shaft of wood that stuck out from his body.

Atan'iti bared her teeth as she replaced her bow and removed her hunting knife. She crept up on the building the last Sky Person was hiding behind, wanting to finish off the last man before he could find his allies. She had taken six lives now, killed six of the sky people in retribution for Harry, but it wasn't enough. Maybe after she was finished here their bodies would equal a fraction of her mate's worth.

Circling around, she perked her ears. She could hear his breathing around the corner of the building. She could smell his stench. The wall of the building was on her right, so she switched the knife to her left hand. She crept up to the corner of the building and paused. He was there. She could smell his salty sweat and hear his ragged breathing. He was against the other corner, just as she was, and she hated him. Atan'iti twisted and stabbed without looking around the sharp, blocky angle of the corner. Her knife found the last marine's chest and Atan'iti pulled it out and back around the corner without exposing herself. The marine's chest tugged slightly at the blade and he came into view. As he fell to the ground, his eyes found her. She looked back until his neck couldn't turn anymore and he hid the ground. _For my mate._

There was screaming and panic around Hell's Gate now. The invading Sky People were shooting at ikrans in the sky and Na'vi on the ground at the same time they were rounding up the residents of Hell's Gate. She saw her father in the sky on his ikran, swooping and turning as fast as she had ever seen. He swooped down low next to her and yelled out, "They are too many! Rescue who you can and go to Hometree!"

Atan'iti began to do exactly as her father commanded. In this situation, they were not a father and daughter, they were chief and hunter. She obeyed. There was nothing more to it. Peeking around the corner, she saw Norm next to his daughter, trying to budge her from where she was by the corpse of her mother. Apparently the girl had not moved since the explosion that seemed like so long ago. In the confusion it seemed the soldiers had not yet noticed them. The air was quickly clearing of her people, mounted on their Ikran, and so the soldiers seemed to be gaining control, and prisoners, very quickly.

Making a fast decision, Atan'iti ran to Norm and picked him up without a word, leaving Celia next to her mother. Atan'iti had heard enough through the panic to realize that Celia had sabotaged the protection of Hell's Gate, which had set forth the events that killed Harry. She had no pity for the girl. Atan'iti ran to the edge of Hell's Gate, ignoring Norm's protests that she must go back for Celia. Atan'iti ran and called her Ikran. It swooped down through the trees and landed in front of her. Slinging norm in front of her like the carcass of a kill, she soared past the canopy and into the open sky of Pandora. Overhead still was the planet the Sky People called Polyphemus. It loomed huge and orange and swirled in the sky. Other times she would have called it beautiful, but she wondered if she could ever use the word again.

Private Miller's eyes opened, and he wished that he hadn't regained consciousness. His chest was a bloody mess, and it hurt to breathe. What had happened? Why was he lying here, and how had he been… stabbed?

Then he remembered the fight, the fearsome Na'vi huntress and her thanator. Miller shuddered at the thought of their ferocity, of the animal scream that the huntress had let out. Turning his head, letting it loll to the side more like, Miller could see the corpse of the thanator. The great beast's stomach was facing him, its legs were crossed over each other, from top to bottom. Its eyes were closed. It was dead.

"_Not dead_," A voice said to Miller. Miller gasped, and then wheezed in pain as the sharp intake of rebreather air stretched his injured lung. He needed to see a doctor, and fast. He didn't know what would happen if his lungs were exposed, even slightly, to Pandoran air. "_You'll last a bit longer_," the voice said.

Miller raised his head to find the source of the voice. He couldn't tell what direction it was coming from. He couldn't see anything besides a trickle of his own blood, rolling down his side from his chest onto a root he was laying upon. "_Not just a root," _the voice said, "_Look closer." _Miller did, and saw that his trickle of blood was actually running down onto a small stone that the root had seemed to grow around and partially absorb. It looked something like a darkly glittering gem held by a pendant. "_That's right," _said the voice, "_You've found me_."

"What?" Miller said weakly, staring at the stone. It seemed to glow slightly white from deep within the dark stone. It was shining, almost like it had a bit of metal in it.

"_I cannot heal Harry over there, that giant thanator. His injuries are much too far beyond my power, weakened as I am. However, his injuries are not beyond his power to heal, and your injuries are not beyond my power to heal. I like you, so I wish to make a deal with you, to save your life. What do you say?"_

Miller looked at the wound in his chest. The blood was trickling out of it steadily. He would not survive the hour unless a moderately well supplied medic found him. "D-deal," he whispered. It was all the sound he could make.

"_Great. Now here is your part of the bargain. After I heal you, I want you to take your knife and pry this stone out of the root, the one with your blood on it. Take out the stone and put it into the mouth of that giant thanator over there. Can you do that?" _

"Yes," was all Miller could say. With a flash, the stone in the root glowed white, and a trail of white traveled up Miller's trickle of blood and into his chest. There, it felt cold where it used to be warm, and he shivered. He wondered why it was so cold. His chest had been burning before, on fire, but now the white coldness extinguished the pain, the throbbing of his wound.

And almost before it began, the white coldness stopped. The pain stopped too. Miller sat up and patted his chest. His camouflage was still ripped, still stained with blood, but when he spread apart the hole with his fingers and peered inside, all he saw was unblemished skin.

Miller got to his feet and took his machete from its sheathe. Whatever, whoever had spoken to him and healed him, Miller was a man of his word. He would put the strangely glittering stone in the mouth of the thanator a hundred times over if it meant his life.

The stone took little effort to remove from the root. It was almost as if the root was happy to give it up to Miller, and Miller took the rock, less than the width and girth of his palm, and placed it in the huge jaws of the thanator. Afterwards, he replaced the machete in its sheath, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and began to trek towards Hell's Gate. For some reason, he never called over his radio to tell the ISV that he was still alive, and he didn't bother to report the demise of his old squad. For some reason, it felt like that would be helping the enemy.

A rustling in the brush ahead caught his attention. Miller stopped and took cover behind a tree, but he was too late. A Na'vi female, the same Na'vi female that had stabbed him before, came into view and spotted him before he could hide. She let out a deadly hiss and immediately went for her bow.

"Wait!" Miller said, holding his hands out in front of him. He still had his rifle, ready to fire, but didn't want to use it. After his mysterious healing, he didn't want to kill anything on Pandora. "Your thanator will be fine, I don't think it's dead!"

Apparantly that was the wrong thing to say, as the enraged Na'vi screamed something in her native language and plucked, nocked, and drew an arrow all in one smooth motion. Miller barely was able to dive behind the tree as the arrow shot past where he had been standing. "No, please! I'm serious!"

Then another rustling of leaves and fronds came from somewhere near the Na'vi huntress, and a human voice, "Atan'iti, what's going on?"

"Stay back!" Atan'iti said, "There is a Sky Person hunter behind that tree!"

"I'm not trying to hurt anyone," Miller yelled to the new voice, "I just want to talk!"

"Atan'iti?" it was the man's voice, Norm.

There was a pause. Then, "This one killed my mate! Harry is dead!" Miller heard the tears.

"Harry?" the man asked, "He's dead?"

"I didn't kill anyone!" Miller insisted, "Just a thanator!"

"You demon!" the Na'vi huntress yelled, and Miller heard her charge toward him. With a curse, he dove out from behind his tree on the opposite side. He heard something sink into the wood trunk as he hit the ground.

"Atan'iti, stop! You can't murder him!"

A shadow appeared over Miller, and he rolled to see the Na'vi huntress, Atan'iti, standing over him. A sharp, glassy knife was in her hands. A middle-aged human man, Norm, ran over and came into Miller's view, panting and looking at Atan'iti. "The Na'vi don't murder, Atan'iti."

"You do not know my pain, Norm Spellman," Atan'iti replied. She was looking between her knife and Miller, blinking and breathing shallow breaths.

"I don't?" Norm asked, "What about my mate? What about Celia?" Norm was crying now. "I know very well how you feel."

Miller did not know what was going on, but he was beginning to see a possibility that he wouldn't be killed a second time that day, "After you stabbed me, a voice spoke to me and said that if it healed me, I would heal the thanator. I did what the voice told me to, and the voice said that I could heal it. Please believe me."

The Na'vi huntress seemed to wake up, and she stared at him, and then ran off toward where his fire team and the thanator had died. The man, Norm, reluctantly helped Miller up off the ground. "Don't try anything, or she will kill you instantly. You won't be able to escape, either."

"I know. Miller." He held out his hand.

Norm looked at Miller's hand, but walked ahead after Atan'iti.

Miller arrived at the small clearing last, and Atan'iti instantly rounded on him, "What did you do with him?" she demanded. Miller could see that the huge body of the thanator was missing. The fallen corpses of the rest of his fire team were still there. "I don't know. I didn't move it anywhere."

"Harry is not an 'it,' demon! Tell me what happened!"

"Atan'iti," Norm cut in cautiously, "Why is he saying it was a thanator?"

"When I was down on the ground after you stabbed me, a voice healed me and told me to put a stone inside of the thana- Harry's mouth. Then I left and you found me. That is all I know."

"What did the stone look like?" Atan'iti asked.

"It was heavy and blocky, and silver. Now that I think of it, it may actually have been metal," Miller answered honestly.

"Was it Unobtainium?" Norm asked.

"It could've been, I'm not sure," Miller replied. He hadn't seen many pictures of the precious metal. He had spent most of his time aboard the ISV in mission planning.

"It is this metal again," Atan'iti said to herself. She looked at the spot where the thanator had been, and her face looked slightly lighter than it had been before. Miller was sure that a small bit of hope had returned to the huntress, just as a small bit of hope had returned to Miller while he as on the ground with the knife hovering above him. Was it possible the voice had kept its word? Had the thanator been healed and had run off after he left?

"You, demon, hand me your bow." Miller handed Atan'iti his rifle. He was glad to be rid of it. It was representative of a life he no longer wanted, to be the strong, enforcing arm of a profits-driven corporation. "You are a prisoner of The People. My father will pass judgment when the time comes."

Then the three of them began to walk back to the Na'vi hometree. Atan'iti's ikran flew overhead, as three people were too heavy for it. They walked back in silence, but Miller could look at their faces. The man, Norm, grew sadder and sadder as they walked. What had he said before? Had something happened to his family during the siege?

And the huntress, her expressions were a confusing mix that Miller waded through with difficulty. There was pain, and anger, but more and more, there was a raising of the head and careful glances shot at Miller. Miller liked to thing that those two things meant hope. Miller was sure the thanator, whatever the reason it was so important to her, was alive somewhere. He prayed her hope would keep him alive through his captivity by his 'enemies.'

The more she looked, the longer they walked, the more he was certain. It was Norm's grief, and Atan'iti's hope.


	19. Settling In

Authors Notes: Hello. :)

Miller twirled a blood-red stick in his fingers, staring intently at the curved handle and tapered point. It hadn't been hard. They had gone back to the spot where he had killed the thanator and picked it up as Atan'iti and Norm had been distracted by grief. The red stick had been half buried by the root that Miller had wrenched the Unobtainium ore from. He pocketed it while Atan'iti had been on her knees, starting at the empty spot where the thanator's dead form had been. The scientist, Norm, had been basically catatonic from his grief.

Miller wasn't sure why Atan'iti had been so upset over his killing the thanator. He had learned extensively what the Na'vi society was like. The warriors of the Omaticaya had lifelong bonds with their banshees and the death of their winged mount surely did cause heavy grief, but that was far different than a thanator. When his old fire team had snuck up on the pair they had been connected at the queue. That was a partial explanation for Atan'iti's grief, assuming the thanator had a similar place in her heart to a banshee, but he still didn't understand the human name and Atan'iti's reference to her mate. That was just wrong compared to what he knew.

"You!" a harsh voice said from behind him. Miller quickly hid the wand underneath the moss in his little cell, and turned to the voice. Atan'iti was there, looking at him through a thick woven wall of branches and vines. Miller was imprisoned in the Home Tree, locked away hundreds of feet above the canopy of the Pandoran jungle. The cell was perhaps 7 feet tall, 6 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. On one end of the cell was the woven "door" where Atan'iti was starting at him with hatred clear in her eyes. On the opposite end of the door was a low wooden lip, perhaps 2 feet tall, and then an open window where he could peer out over the brilliant bioluminescent sea below him. Sometimes when he was particularly tired, Miller almost thought that he could dive off into the water below—the brilliant, glowing sea.

He subtly finished burying the stick, stood from his squat overlooking the bioluminescent sea, and turned towards Atan'iti, "Yes?"

"You will be questioned soon by my father. You will say nothing of Harry Potter, or anything about my mate. You killed what you call a 'thanator' in the forest, nothing more."

Miller was intrigued, but hid it surprise. This was even more confusing. She did not want the rest of the Na'vi to know how she regarded the thanator. He approached her carefully, taking a few steps forward. He was a prisoner, but he also wanted to prove that he had not taken part in the attack against Hell's Gate. "Why? What are you keeping secret?"

Atan'iti's eyes narrowed even more. Red dots of light flashed around her shoulders and down abdomen. "It is none of your concern, demon," Atan'iti spat at him. Her lip curled unconsciously and she said the last word and he could see her fangs.

"It is my concern," Miller said back. He stepped a bit closer to make sure they weren't overheard. With a rebreather on it was hard to gauge how loud his voice was to people around him. He probably wouldn't reveal what he had overheard about the thanator, but didn't want to accidentally lose one of his only playing cards to an eavesdropper. "I want to show Norm and the Na'vi leader here that I did not attack Hell's Gate. I don't want to go back. I can help you with information."

"My father will get the information he wants from you with or without your willingness. I do not care for your excuses. You will swear to me right now that you will say nothing about Harry potter or my mate, or else you won't live to escape this cell."

That was certainly unexpected. The Na'vi didn't murder. They killed in battle, they had been known to kill avatars who had trespassed back when the RDA had last been in control of Hell's Gate during the avatar program, but they never killed someone in cold blood. He knew that much about their culture, at least. "Na'vi don't murder," he said simply.

Atan'iti's hand shot through the loosely woven door and grabbed Miller by the neck. She lifted him easily off the ground and pulled him close to her. For the first time, Miller realized just how large the Na'vi were compared to humans. Atan'iti was immensely strong compared to him, and he didn't doubt that she could crush his windpipe with hardly any effort. He could see her face, just inches from him through the slatted door, and then he knew she wasn't joking. He didn't understand how or why she was willing to betray thousands of years of cultural and genetic heritage to protect her secret, "It is lucky that I am not Na'vi then, isn't it, demon?" she said. "You will say nothing, or I will throw you out of that window you seem so fond of staring through." She threw Miller roughly back, but not anywhere near him risking falling out of the other side of the cell.

He noticed something, then, as he fell backwards and landed on the cell floor. Five fingers. She had five fingers, but she was defiantly not an avatar. If she had been she would be back in Hell's gate, the link already broken between this form and Atan'iti's real body. Only slightly rattled from his fall, Miller got up off of the mossy cell floor, looked pointedly at her hands and said, "What are you?"

"A demon, like you," she replied. "You will say nothing."

Miller looked at her a moment longer, "Fine. I won't say anything. I hope that you'll at least consider that I'm telling the truth about wanting to help. You don't need to lock me up."

Atan'iti looked like she wished she could grab him again, "It may be that will happen. They don't know what I know," she said. "But I will never forgive you."

She turned and began to walk away. There was a ramp that began to lead down, spiraling around the inside hollow of the Home Tree. "I still don't think it is dead," Miller called after her. He didn't shout, but he hoped that his words meant at least something to her.

All she did was hit the wall of Home Tree with her left hand, hard, as she walked down the ramp, leaving Miller alone again. He looked after her for a few seconds as her head vanished down the ramp, and then turned to look out over the blue and purple bioluminescent sea. He imagined Atan'iti tossing him out into the air, like a vicious older brother tossing a younger sibling's teddy bear off a ledge. It was the effortlessness of the action that made him shiver, even though the Pandoran night was warm enough to make him sweat.

* * *

Parker already had his rebreather securely in place when the call came from the sergeant to put them on. He liked to think he was something of a Pandora veteran at this point. The rear bay door opened an the toxic Pandoran atmosphere rolled in like heat rising from asphalt on a hot summer day. He looked at the roiling, hot gas, and thought back to the mirage of water that is often created in deserts. This was not the first time that Parker thought that his return to Pandora was nothing but an illusion. He stepped down the metal ramp and onto the hard concrete surface of Hell's Gate. Off to his left was the garden and Avatar training compound, a section of Hell's gate where the dangerous nature of Pandora encroached, if in a tightly controlled manner.

Pandora… it really was a beautiful place. This was the first opportunity Parker really had to look and admire the view. He could see Polyphemus in the distant, vast expanse of space. The northern storm that raged perpetually on Polyphemus was in full view. Parker knew that it would be a terrible thing to experience, that storm. He looked back at the orbital transport, watching the marines unload their equipment. They had their orders and were going about it efficiently. His administration staff, however, was following closely behind him. He was the only one who was returning from their previous ejection from Pandora. The marines didn't seem to be phased by the alien environment, but his staff's nervousness was really showing. It began to rain slightly—rather unusual as it was long past morning. "Let's get settled in, shall we?"

Once inside, Parker took tour of the compound. The marines had already secured the civilians, children, and scientists that had not been able to escape during the initial strike at Hell's gate. He noticed that one woman was secluded from the rest of the civilians and was being looked at by a military medic. "Problem, doc? Parker asked.

"Yeah, boss," the medic said, "She got some bad shrapnel wounds, most likely from being too close to the perimeter defenses when they overloaded. I don't know if she's going to make it. I'm surprised she hasn't died already. One of the children in the group off to the side, a teenage girl, began to cry loudly. Parker ignored her.

Parker turned to his staff and spotted the surgeon that he had brought with him. "Get to work," he said to the surgeon. "I don't want any more deaths if we can help it." The surgeon nodded and hurried over to the table with the woman, speaking quietly to the medic and taking control of the situation. He looked at the marine who was currently in charge of guarding the group of civilians. "Clear the necessary bunks for everyone here. Get them secured, but comfortable." He glanced at the defeated group huddled together, silent save for the crying girl. There wasn't many, perhaps 20 people in total. It was amazing to Parker, seeing as how there had only been approximately 10 humans left on Pandora 18 years ago. More than half of the group huddled there were children. "Make sure you check the rooms for weapons. And for God's sake, give them real rooms and not jail cells."

With the necessaries taken care of, Parker strode to the command center of Hell's Gate, his entourage following closely. "Alright people, you know what to do. Get set up and check all systems. I'm assuming our new home was well taken care of, but double check anyways. And make sure you get the damn perimeter repaired as soon as possible!" With that, Parker rubbed his hands together and strode into his old office. Surprisingly, not much had changed. His desk had different digital reports strewn about them, all bearing either Max or Norm's name. But other than that, it was comfortingly similar. The Na'vi hunter's bow still hung above his chair and the shield still sat in its glass case on the right side of the office. The semi-circle glass walls that allowed him to see the entirety of the command center were recently cleaned and free of dust and fingerprints.

There was only one difference. His chunk of Unobtainium, now worth approximately 2 million dollars, was conspicuously missing. "Damn," he muttered to himself. The Unobtainium had been his favorite trinket, and it would be sorely missed. He cleared off the old data pads with the reports addressed to Max and Norm, rearranged a few decorative artifacts to where they belonged, and sat down in his chair, putting his feet up on his desk and crossed his arms on his chest. He was back!

For a while Parker observed the bustling of his administrative crew. They were a good bunch of people, mostly young, and eager to help out the RDA and, by extension, all of Earth. A young marine entered the command center and asked one of the logistics people a question Parker couldn't hear. The young staffer pointed towards parker, and the marine made a beeline for Parker's office. Parker took his feet off the desk, pulled his collared white shirt straight, and checked his tie. So it began.

The Private dropped off a casualty report for him. There were 4 confirmed marine deaths, 4 marines MIA, an entire fire team that apparently never even made it to Hell's gate from their drop point, and 2 confirmed Na'vi deaths. Parker rolled his shoulders and sighed at the deaths. He knew two of the four marines that had been killed, and it made him sad. Their families would get handsome bonuses, he knew, but it was still unfortunate. Since they didn't have pictures of the Na'vi warriors who had been killed, they instead had a picture for each tabbed into the digital report. Parker looked at each of the Na'vi faces. One had his eyes closed and Parker wondered if the photographer had done it as a sign of respect. The other Na'vi had her eyes wide open, staring her death stare past the camera lens.

Parker hadn't been down on the ground for the fighting. That wasn't his place. His place was to simply assess the value of fighting versus other solutions, and to make sure that someone cleaned up the mess that resulted. Looking into the Na'vi faces, he wondered what his responsibilities were in cleaning up the mess for these two… individuals. Unwanted, Grace Augustine's voice game back from 18 years ago when he had made the decision to destroy the Na'vi Home Tree. _There are families there! Children, Parker!_ Parker shook his head and set down the reports. Walking out of the office and out of the command center, he returned to the room where the injured woman and civilians had been kept. The civilians were gone, apparently already moved into comfortable and secure rooms to await transport back to Earth. The surgeon was still there, but he seemed to have finished his job. The woman had been moved to a bed off to the side, hooked up to a medical monitor. "Is she going to live?" Parker asked, inclining his head towards the woman. He thought that she might have been a minor researcher. He didn't remember her name.

"Charlene Spellman," the surgeon said. "She got married to Norm, according to the records. She should make a recovery, yes."

That was good to hear. It was also good news that she was something of an important person. He might be able to use Charlene to re-open negotiations with Norm and Jake. He thanked the doctor and started walking back to the comfort of his office. The thought of continued negotiation weighed heavily on Parker's mind. Who was Harry Potter, and why did Norm and the Na'vi listen to him? Parker had been positive that he was simply another child of the researchers, but now he wasn't so sure. And what was the deal with claiming that he represented that god, Eywa. Parker had decided to (had been forced, really) to read up on Na'vi culture as part of sensitivity training during the 6 year delay on Earth. He knew that Eywa was actually something of a collective consciousness not anything like a real deity of course, but still not completely imaginary. But was it conscious to the point where it could actually have a representative? Parker chuckled at the thought. There was nothing in the Na'vi handbooks that even hinted at the possibility.

The United Nations war fighting permits had been granted to the RDA on one condition—that the Na'vi started the war against Parker's people. The RDA had developed sophisticated, clean mining technology that was capable of recovering Unobtainium from shallow ocean deposits that were estimated to last for 50 years or more. They would not trouble the Na'vi at all, and as long as the Na'vi did not trouble him, Parker was more than content to leave them be. However, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Na'vi would not negotiate at _all_, not matter where the Unobtainium was harvested, and it all seemed to be caused by Harry Potter.

He had just sat back down in his office chair when another marine came in and made a beeline for him. It was the same marine that Parker had instructed to settle in the civilians and children. The marine snapped off a salute, and said, "Sir, I was overseeing the clearing of one of the holding rooms for the civilians, and the Private found something you should see." He took what looked to be a book, a real live paper-bound book, and set it on Parker's desk, almost reverently.

"What the hell?" Parker said. He looked at the marine, "Is this a joke?"

"No sir," the marine replied. "It was found in a room along with a number of other books. But look at the title."

Parker picked up the book. It was bound by a hard cover. He felt the sides of the pages and cracked it open. The spine made a slight creak, and the insides seemed to be hand-written, not typed. He too his thumb and fanned through the pages. A real book that used paper… actual paper! Paper books had become something of a rarity on Earth, seeing as how the printing of books on any tree product had been banned almost a hundred years ago. Taking the marine's advice, he turned back to the cover. _Moste Potente Potions_. "There were more, you said?"

"Almost twenty, sir," the marine replied.

"Well then," Parker said, "This is something I have to see for myself."

* * *

Atan'iti sat at the council, pretending to be interested in the discussion between her father, Norm, and Max. Atan'iti's mother was also there, but Atan'iti could tell that her mother was paying more attention to her than the council. Neytiri was peering closely at Atan'iti, as if confused. Atan'iti squirmed uncomfortably under her mother's gaze, but also couldn't seem to muster the nessecary feelings to care. She had just returned from her talk with the demon named Miller to find the meeting already going. As princess, and as a warrior, she had a right to sit in on the meetings, if to not directly influence the decisions. The Na'vi elders were circled around the four main members, listening and weighting, ready to be heard on topics they felt compelled to speak on.

"Your avatar is at Hell's gate?" Jake asked Norm.

"Yeah, it should be safe in the bunk. Last I saw it had been untouched by the fighting," Norm Spellman also seemed to be having a hard time finding the necessary strength to contribute to the council. Atan'iti knew that she should feel sorry for him, knew that she should be able to relate, but she could not.

"We still have the remote link station," Max said. "We have been maintaining it, in preparation for this, and the location isn't listed on any of the databases at Hell's Gate."

"So we can get some eyes on the inside of Hell's gate pretty easily," Jake said, rubbing his chin. Atan'iti looked at her father's fingers. "Atan'iti, have you heard from Harry?"

While Norm had seemed almost a shell, he immediately looked at Atan'iti as he realized what Jake had asked. Atan'iti held back the tears and grief that were threatening to escape, "I have not had any word from Harry Potter, father." It was not a lie.

Jake nodded thoughtfully, looking at the rest of the table, "Does anyone else have an idea of where he is?"

Everyone was silent for a second, no answer, then Norm said, "I'm not sure. He definitely wasn't at Hell's gate." Norm looked at Atan'iti straight in the eye. She hadn't had a chance to speak to him yet.

Atan'iti could not tell her father about Harry's death. She could not. If she began to tell the story, then she would have to explain everything. Her mate. Atan'iti had not expected the bond, but she had been thinking about Harry Potter for the longest time before. It had been so confusing. She had been drawn to Harry in a way that had never happened with other young males. He had been connected to her before; they had made the bond twice. Sometimes she wondered how much of her life Harry had seen that first time. He must have been able to see everything. It was amazing that even though he had seen it all, he still decided that he would make the bond. Harry Potter was powerful. He could take the form of the great predator, and yet was kind and gentle, willing to help her. He was… hers. He had been hers. "I must go," Atan'iti said.

Atan'iti got up quickly and ignored the surprised sound from Jake and the whispers of the elders around the table. Neytiri also got up and said something to Jake Atan'iti could not hear. She was already down the spiral ramp and out of sight of the conference area when Neytiri caught up with her.

"Daughter…" Neytiri said.

"I cannot speak of it, Mother," Neytiri said.

"You act as if… you are acting like Norm Spellman."

That was too much for Atan'iti. She turned and cried into her mother's shoulder, hugging her arms close to her chest, cradling them against her heart. She felt her mother's arms wrap around her, pulling her in closer. "Atan'iti, what has happened?"

"He is dead, mother," Atan'iti said. The words were too much and she choked off her last word in a sob.

"You loved him," Neytiri said. She drew Atan'iti away from her chest to look into her eyes. They were piercing and insightful in a way that could only be achieved by one who spent her life listening to Eywa.

"It is stupid," Atan'iti said.

"No," Neytiri said. "Sometimes I fear you are too much like your father, too human. But in doing this, in loving a sky person… You are very much like me."

Atan'iti looked at her mother. Through her grief a small spark of comfort flared to life before it was covered by her tears. "He is dead, mother. He is dead."

Neytiri drew Atan'iti close again and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "The grief will lessen in time, daughter. I can promise you that."

How wise her mother was, and little her she knew. They had formed a bond. Pain like this would never truly be gone. "I must go pray."

Atan'iti broke away from her mother's embrace and continued down the spiral ramp, to the bottom floor where many People were socializing before the night's rest. The atmosphere was subdued, but still abuzz with the news of what had happened at the sky people's village. Off in the distance, she heard a wail of grief. Atan'iti was not the only one who had lost someone she loved, she knew.

"Atan'iti!" a voice called. She turned her head in the direction of the call, but did not stop walking. It was Jesun. He jogged up to her, his eyes brimming with excitement. "Atan'iti." His smile vanished when she saw the tears on her cheeks. "What has happened?"

Atan'iti shook her head and began to jog, leaving him behind. She ran away from Home Tree, quickly bonding with a direhorse and riding away. She had her bow and knife with her, she would be safe during the dusk, and she could no longer stay with others. She had to be alone. She galloped for ten minutes, pushing the direhorse and herself hard, following a trail she knew well. Atan'iti ducked under glowing foliage, stampeding the resilient moss and plant life under her direhorse's hooves. The ripples that came out from the hoof steps were violent, cascading up the vines and to the trees around her. Suddenly she veered off the trail and into the jungle, jumping over a log and heading down a slope. At the bottom was a whispering tree, as her mother called them.

She dismounted and broke the bond with her direhorse. It stood where she left it, panting heavily from the ride. Atan'iti was breathing hard as well. She gulped in one a breath and stepped towards the tree of whispers and its hanging pink vines. Taking a bundle of three vines, she touched it to her queue. The whispers of her ancestors, those who made up the Great Mother, began to speak in her mind. "Great Mother, please hear me. Bring Harry Potter back to me." She knew it was a futile prayer. Miller had claimed that a voice told that Harry was not dead, but it did not make sense. Eywa did not speak as such. _But what about what Harry had said?_ She remembered his claim about another Eywa, something different. But she did not know. Atan'iti felt that she could not allow herself to hope and then to be let down again. She would not survive more pain like that. "Eywa, please hear me. Bring my mate back to me."

The jungle around Atan'iti glowed in the darkness, making sure that Pandora was never truly dark. The vines washed Atan'iti in a pink light, and all around her the bioluminescent eyes of the Pandoran fauna watched her. Atan'iti did not need watchers, though. Atan'iti just wanted the whisperers to hear her.


	20. The Eyes of Pandora

It had been a long time since harry had woken up to the smell of cigarette smoke. The acrid smoke twisted his nose, and he scrunched his eyes closed and rubbed furiously at his face. He hated when Aunt Marge visited. Her dogs were awful to him, but there was something particularly foul about the cigarette stench that filled the house and lingered for weeks after she was gone. Harry shut his eyes tighter and curled up into a ball. Perhaps if he was very quiet and didn't sneeze from the smoke, Aunt Marge would forget he was underneath the staircase for a few more minutes.

"If I wasn't privy to exactly what you were thinking, there's no way I'd believe you had that awful of a childhood."

Harry's eyes shot open and he looked towards the voice. Grace Augustine was standing above him in her grey cargo pants and pocketed vest. Between her fingers was a cigarette. "Good morning, sunshine," she said. She was looking at him in an almost friendly way.

"What?" Harry breathed. He stood up, looking around. At first he thought that he and Grace were standing in a grey fog so thick that he couldn't see anything, but almost immediately he knew that he was wrong. Harry saw… shapes in the mist. He saw they were standing in a clearing, but there were no trees around him to actually define the clearing itself. It was the strangest experience Harry had ever felt. It was a clearing, but there was nothing that had been cleared. Vines and trees that consisted entirely of fog would form around the edges of his vision, as if the clearing was actually constructed by the limits of his eyes. When he tried to focus on the shapes that he could see moving, they were no longer there.

There was only one other thing besides Grace and her cigarette that wouldn't disappear when he focused on it. There was something off in the distance. It was a bright shining brilliance that cut through the grey shapes all around him. It wasn't actually anything of substance, just a clean white light that wasn't poisoned by shifting shapes. Harry turned his attention back to the scientist.

Harry knew Grace wasn't alive. He knew that Grace was dead and a part of Eywa now. The last time he had visited her it was simply as if she was standing there before him underneath the canopy of the Tree of Souls. Why now was everything so different? "Dr. Augustine, what happened?"

Grace smiled at him, "You're dead, Harry. Your soul has gone to be with Eywa, with us."

"Dead," Harry repeated. "I died?" He thought back to how he died. He remembered being the Thanator, and how he and Atan'iti… _Atan'iti_… had been discovered by the four marines. Then suddenly it came back to him. The pain on his neck, so excruciating and so short. It had been a flash, quicker than the flash of the powder tray perched above a wizard camera. The pain had been there and all-consuming, the needle jamming into his spinal column, and then there was nothing.

"You remember," Grace said. "I can see your thoughts you know. We're one and the same now, mostly."

Harry was dumbstruck. He realized that his mouth was slightly agape as he looked at Grace, the forest shapes dancing around the corners of his vision, framing the only corporeal thing that existed in any direction. Harry reached up to feel at his neck to see if the bullet wound was still there, and his hand passed through nothingness.

"About that," Grace said, "Seeing as how you're part of Eywa now, you are no longer physical. You exist in spirit only. Our minds are maintained through the quadrillions of neurological connections that exist across all of Pandora."

"I'm dead." Harry said. He still couldn't believe it.

Grace shook her head and took a drag on her cigarette. Her lips were curled up in a crow foot smile. She exhaled and eventually laughed. It was very light-hearted, especially considering she had just informed someone they were dead, "You got shot in the back of the neck," Grace said. "I was actually quite surprised you managed to expose the only vulnerable part of the Thanator to a gun-toting marine. I expected better of you, to be honest."

"Thanks," Harry said. He wanted to run his hands through his hair so badly. He wanted to cover his eyes. He tried looking down at his hands, and although he knew that he was moving them, there was nothing to see. "Why can't I see my body?" he asked.

"Very observant," Grace said dryly, flicking away her cigarette. Harry followed the little smoking roll of tobacco as it rushed away from the pair of them. As it reached the apex of its arc, it disintegrated into a puff of fog that immediately retreated from the center of his gaze. "You still have a body, sort of," Grace said. "Remember what I said about the neurological connections between the plants and animals of Pandora? Well, that's your body now. You can't see your human body because it doesn't exist anymore. It's gone."

"Then why does it still feel like a human body?" Harry asked, his annoyance finally breaking through. He was dead. That's well and good. Right now he wanted to move past that and figure out what his options were.

"It still feels like a human body because you haven't let go yet," said Grace. "Give it a try. Close your eyes and try to experience what is around you. Imagine a part of Pandora you want to sense, and you will be able be a part of it. Remember that now you are everywhere, after a fashion."

Harry looked off again into the distance at the beacon of light. He wondered what it was, what it was doing there. Grace didn't seem to see it. Harry put the thought aside for a moment and did as Grace said. He focused on something that he wanted to see back out in the real world. He didn't think of anything specifically, but rather just concentrated on the outside world of Pandora.

The smoky shapes in the edges of his vision began to take shape. Where there was once a tree trunk that waved and twisted, a solid one now stood, rooted firmly to the ground. It had moss on it, Harry could see, as well as impossibly thin blades of grass tipped in purple light, growing right out of the side of the bark. Other shapes started to coalesce as well, and Harry could even feel the world taking shape out of his view.

Funnily enough, Harry actually was in a clearing. More accurately, Harry was the clearing. He could see an open space in the jungle that contained only a single tree with hanging pink vines. He could see the tree from each angle, all the way around. He could see the spidery web of vibrant vines fan out and blot out the sky, as well as creep along the ground to shelter his bird's eye view. Harry was _everywhere_.

But there was something else in that clearing. Atan'iti was there. Harry could also see Atan'iti from a thousand angles. He could see her with a thousand eyes. She was kneeling down with her head bowed. Her queue was connected to the vibrant strands of the tree of whispers. Harry wanted to see her face, and his focus immediately shifted to accommodate his wishes. _I am everywhere. _He finally understood. Anywhere where the neural network was, Harry could be. It was the strangest feeling, knowing that he was able to watch over Pandora from every single pinprick of light that shimmered out the fauna, through every blade of grass. The sensation was almost too much for him to handle.

Then Harry noticed the tears gliding down Atan'iti's cheeks, her eyes closed tightly. Harry wanted to reach out and wipe away Atan'iti's tears. He had been her mate, however short-lived that had been. Harry gasped and pulled back from the scene around him in sudden realization. Atan'iti had been his mate, and now he was dead. The Na'vi mated for life, and the pain of losing a mate was great beyond Harry's imaging.

Harry let the vision around him fade to incorporeal grey mists, once again hovering around the edges of his vision. Grace was there, looking at him expectedly. "I've left her," was all Harry said.

"Don't start feeling all guilty," Grace said, "It wasn't your choice to get shot in the head." Harry laughed, despite himself. The twisting guilt never left his stomach though. He had left his mate stranded out there, just moments after they had made the bond. It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to her. If Harry had a body he knew that he would have pitched to his knees and thrown up. The shame and the longing were flowing through him, uncontrolled. He had to distract himself. He tried to focus on something, anything, that wasn't an elusive grey streak or a stern human biologist.

The great shining light was off in the distance again. Harry looked at it and wondered if it was even brighter than before. Beams of light reached out and beckoned him, forcing Harry to squint. The harsh glare was a welcome shock to his senses. He pointed to it before he realized he didn't have any hands. Instead, he asked, "What is that white light?"

Grace's expression changed immediately when Harry asked his question. She looked almost… embarrassed. "There always seems to be something strange when you're involved, Harry," she said. "It isn't often that I'm taken by surprise, you know."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"The Great Father. The old Na'vi you spoke to when you picked up his body, back at Home Tree."

Harry's eyes widened and he remembered the old man's words. The all mother hadn't known about her brother aspect. "You found out when I died?" he asked.

"That white light you see over there, it is a portion of the Great Father's body. A marine named Miller placed it inside of you after you died. It came with you."

Harry looked at the shining light off in the distance. It seemed to be whispering and calling to him. "Why?"

Grace shook her head, "I don't know. It barely has any power. I don't know why the Great Father would bother sending such a weak source of power to try and help you." Harry took his eyes off of the white light and looked at Grace. She was starting steadily back, her hand holding another fresh cigarette loosely, elbow resting on her hip. Grace seemed to be studying him, observing and not interfering, as scientists are supposed to do.

Harry wanted to take a closer look at the shining light. He tried to walk closer, but then realized he had no legs. He tried to glide over, but he found that even though he was moving, the while light stayed out in the distance. After a short time of bodiless gliding, Harry stopped his effort and gave a stern look at the white beacon, still out in the distance. It was like the sun in the sky when he had travelled to and from his old school on the Hogwarts Express. Often he would stare at the sun through the flashing pine trees as the train sped along the tracks. The trees flashed in and out of Harry's reality in a split second, but the sun never wavered in the sky. Harry looked at the light and held it in his memory. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to be there and then spun to the left on his non-existent heel. There was a loud _pop!_ and Harry opened his eyes.

It was white all around him. The grey had completely vanished. Down on the floor was a body, he realized. At first he saw it was a Thanator, but then it shifted into Harry's human form. Even before his mind had time to register his own lifeless form, it once again shifted. It grew longer, but stayed thin. It was the body of a Na'vi. Harry gasped, and by the time he uttered any sound it was a Thanator again. The cycle continued over and over, the shape and size of the body shifting so fast that Harry couldn't ever focus and pick out one form out of the three. What was this?

Then he realized. It was a piece of the Great Father's body. Harry's mind begin to race. Surely not… surely Harry wasn't meant to… But why not? Wizards were capable of attaching their souls to new forms. Voldemort had done it, despite splitting and mutilating his soul in the process. Had the Great Father really given him a new body to work with?

Harry thought back to Atan'iti kneeling by the tree, crying. That was the only reason he needed to go back. The ability to be everywhere, see everything, it was tempting. But Harry knew that it wouldn't be the same. How could he choose to just stand by and watch the pain and hardship of his mate if he could do something to help solve it? Harry focused on the formless body in front of him and imagined the body as his own. He closed his eyes and held the image in his head. Harry wasn't sure what image it was that was at the front of the mind. He just knew, somehow, that it was a mental picture of _his _body as he wanted it, as he needed it.

Once again there was a small _pop_! and Harry felt like he had been squeezed through a very small tube. It was much like apparating. Except instead of the instant rematerialization of the world around him, Harry felt like he was being oozed out like putty through a nozzle. He seemed to be filling up some sort of vessel. Harry had no senses anymore. He could not hear or see, only think. He could only have the impression that his soul was somehow being transferred through the little tube, a bit at a time.

Finally there was a resurgence of his vision. He was in a colorful tunnel, travelling very fast. It was like a rainbow vortex, spinning furiously around him. It curved and thrashed in all directions, but Harry stuck with it, forcing himself to stay the course and continue moving forward. He had the impression that the sides of the vortex were catching at him, trying to hold him back, but he didn't let that happen. Harry felt something tug at his arm, then at his leg. He stumbled, but ripped his limbs free and kept his vision forward. He couldn't let anything distract him right now. He had to be firm. He was so tired.

The end of the tunnel of light came quickly. A golden spider's web blocked the exit. Harry did not stop. Instead he gave a great yell as he burst through the gate, and he realized that he actually had a voice—a strong one. Harry kept yelling as Pandora appeared around him and oriented him once again in the physical universe. Then he hit the ground, as gravity also reasserted its pull on his body. "Oof!" he said in surprise as the pain shot from his side as he landed on it. A ripple of light expanded across the moss-covered jungle floor.

Harry wanted to get up, but he realized he was tired… so tired. He was on his side, breathing strongly, with only a slight throb from where his shoulder had taken the brunt of his fall. He coughed a bit and took a deep breath. He was breathing! For some reason it was such a strange and wonderful experience, being able to breathe again.

Instead of getting up Harry decided all he could do was lift his head. He saw that he was actually in the same clearing that he had last seen Atan'iti. Above him were the reaching vines of the tree of whispers. Around him were the thousands of bioluminescent dots that he had used not too long ago to look at his mate. "Atan'iti? Are you here?"

"Who are you?" a feminine voice said from behind him.

Harry knew her voice so well. He rolled over, and pushed himself into a sitting position. His head was hung and his eyes closed from the effort of getting off his side, and the moment it took to raise it up to see his mate was another lifetime of waiting in the void. Finally, with his head fully lifted, he opened his eyes and he took in the sight of his mate.

She was crouched low, one leg poised underneath her body and the other out to the side. One hand was stretched to the ground in front of her, her five fingers splayed to create a firm connection with the jungle floor. She was ready to run or pounce, whichever was needed. Atan'iti's tail was twitching irritably, and her ears were pointed directly towards him, ready to alert her to the slightest unseen action. It was a fighter's pose.

Harry noticed she was wearing a Na'vi necklace around her neck, almost like a Native American dream catcher, but made of a type of wood instead of animal sinew. Her long black hair was loose, but plaited over the sides over her head, above her ears. He knew that that way, it would never get in the way in case of a fight or while she was hunting. It fell down past her shoulders. Her queue was hanging over the back of her shoulder and down between her side and her arm. Harry could see subtle bioluminescent dots around her cheeks. Her lips were perfectly bowed like all Na'vi lips.

Her eyes were fierce though. She was starting at him with a cautiousness that he didn't expect, "I'm sorry I left you."

Atan'iti's eyes were fierce for a moment longer, and then they grew wide. She gasped and fell backwards, covering her mouth. Her tail was off to her right, and it seemed to have gone limp from shock. "H-harry?"

Harry smiled, unable to take his eyes off of her. He ran his fingers through his hair, knowing it was a nervous gesture. "After I saw you here, I had to come back."

Atan'iti proved her skill as a hunter as two things happened. First she laughed, her eyes lighting up in a tear-filled joy. Second, she pounced on him and pushed Harry to the ground, kissing him. Harry kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her slender form and holding her tight on top of him. Her soft bottom lip had slotted itself between his, and he pressed his fingertips into her skin. He wasn't sure how long they were like that, and it didn't matter. He was kissing his mate. Her soft lips were on top of his, and he could feel the entire length of her body with his. He moved his hands, one down the back of her waist above her tail, the other on a shoulder-blade, pressing his palms down and flexing his fingers to try and increase the contact with her skin as much as possible. It was the most content, most intense moment Harry had ever experienced.

Eventually Atan'iti pulled away and drew Harry up into a sitting position again. She crossed her legs and hugged them to her chest, just looking at him. Harry copied her pose, albeit more slowly and carefully. He was still exhausted, after all.

They were close. Harry could feel his shins intertwining with Atan'iti's. Her eyes were tracking back and forth across his face, her teeth and her fangs showing through a frozen, bewildered smile. He liked watching her eyes jump back and forth. It showed Harry how much life there was in her.

"If it wasn't for your scar, I wouldn't have been able to tell so quickly! Now I can see it, though. It's you!"

Harry laughed and he felt a few tears drop down his cheeks. He wiped them away and smiled at her, "Of course it's me, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Atan'iti repeated, surprised. "Harry, look at yourself, you're one of the People!"

Harry felt his grin drop into an agape expression as he glanced down at himself. He had been so tired when he first appeared in the clearing and then so intent holding and kissing Atan'iti that he hadn't even noticed the obvious changes in their relative size. He was larger than she was! Harry turned over his hands, looking at the blue skin and bioluminescent dots that ran up his long, slender arms. "Oh my god."

"I take it as a compliment you did not notice, Harry," Atan'iti said with a tight, mischievous smile. She wasn't looking at his face, but instead staring at his chest. All Na'vi had two-toned skin. There was the base blue color, and then darker striping, similar to a tiger's patterns. Harry had the striping, but it was not the royal blue that was common on Na'vi. Metallic silvery stripes lined Harry's body, crossing over his smooth skin with a mirror-polished gleam. Harry ran his hand over his other arm and was surprised to realize that even though he could not visually distinguish the stripes on his skin from an inlaid metal, it felt as soft as normal flesh. As he moved his arm the metallic inlay glinted pink in the glow of the tree of whispers. "You are very handsome," Atan'iti said.

Harry looked away from his new body back towards Atan'iti. Her head was still tilted downward as if to look at his chest, but her eyes had snapped back to his face. Her eyes were open than he had ever seen them, yellow irises visible all the way around. It was a simple look, but so suggestive. Harry felt his tail begin to sway, and he smiled as he noticed it for the first time. "I have a tail," he said.

Then Harry was unable to hold himself upright any longer, and his stomach muscles finally gave way. He fell back to the soft floor and shut his eyes, giving in to the sleep that had been building since he had shattered through the golden web at the end of the Eye of Eywa.


	21. The Weight of a Promise

Harry's eyes snapped open at the light rustling noise that came from the edge of the clearing. In the sun's bright light the tree of whispers lacked most of its magical glow. Instead of its mystery and deep romanticism, it was noble and proud, protecting those who sheltered within its vine canopy. They hung down towards him like rays of light made corporeal, providing physicality to the warm pinpricks of sunlight lucky enough to make it through the canopy of the tree of whispers, dotting his body with gleaming diamonds.

Atan'iti pushed back the hanging pink strands with one long arm, the other cradling a number of round fruits. Harry sat up and crossed his legs. "Good morning," he said to his mate. Atan'iti entered through the wall of vines and took a few steps toward him. Specks of light raced up and down her body as she moved forward, and Harry thought that he couldn't be happier anywhere else.

Atan'iti laughed and looked down at him. "It is almost after noon Harry," she said. "You must be hungry. Eat." Atan'iti dropped a fruit and Harry caught it, smiling up at her.

"Thank you." He bit into the fruit and was shocked at how delicious it was. Harry wiped the juice off his chin and exclaimed, "This is good!" He sprang to his feet, and was surprised at how fast and effortless the motion was. Harry had been in shape in his human body, of course, but he could tell that this one was both less dense and stronger. The combination made all of his movements seem… like he was dancing.

Remembering the revelations the night before, he looked down and double-checked his body. It was still Na'vi, complete with traditional Na'vi clothing, minimal as it was. Harry supposed that the new clothes were a simple matter of adapting the human clothes he had been wearing before. Or maybe they had just been created from nothing. It wasn't impossible. An entirely new body had been crafted for him, after all.

"I'm still in shock, I think," Harry said, looking back to Atan'iti. She was eating her own fruit. Her hair was still plaited over her ears with the majority of her black hair still loose down her back. She was wearing the traditional Na'vi necklace of decorative wood, and a light covering of cloth woven between thick ropes that covered her small, high breasts. Harry had always noticed them, ever since he had first seen her. At first he felt strange, being attracted to a woman who wasn't human, but then he realized how silly that was. The question of body didn't matter. It was about the mind. Atan'iti was as intelligent as any human, fully able to share in and reciprocate Harry's feeling of love and his need for communication and companionship, so what was so wrong about the attraction? When she had first picked up Harry to try and feel his magic, close to two months before, that was the first time he had gotten firm, prolonged contact with her body. It was his most memorably early experience of his new life. Harry stepped forward and touched Atan'iti's cheek. "I have a beautiful mate," he said.

Atan'iti gave him a small smile and her cheeks turned the color of her darker stripes. Atan'iti touched Harry's shoulder and ran her hand down his arm. She grasped his hand, and their fingers laced together properly. Atan'iti looked down at their hands, "When I was younger I used to come to this place and pray for my hands to be normal, to be like the rest of the People."

"I'm glad you're different," Harry said. Harry finished his unidentified piece of fruit and dropped the core on the ground. "Do you think we should go back to your home? Are you ready to face everyone?"

Atan'iti smiled and raised her head slightly, standing on her tiptoes. Harry felt her bare stomach brush against his, and her hand pushed down on his shoulder slightly as she raised her eyes above his. She was looking down her nose at him, and Harry could see her smile widen slightly, her sharp teeth showing. "We are not ready to announce our mating, yet," she said.

Then she tripped Harry. She used her leverage to throw him backwards and had secretly wrapped one of her legs behind his, making him unable to stumble backwards to regain his balance. Harry fell, and reached for her on instinct, pulling her down with him.

Hitting the ground didn't hurt. His bones were strong and his body was light. Even so, he let out a small 'oof!' when Atan'iti landed on top of him. Quickly, Atan'iti got her legs under her, one on each side of Harry, and pushed her hands against his shoulders to keep him on his back. She let out a small sound that was a cross between a grunt and a chuckle, and said, "There is one important thing we must do before we announce our mating, Harry Potter."

Then Atan'iti sat back, balanced on his hips, and crossed her arms. She slid her fingertips underneath her garment at the armpits, pulling it up and over her head to reveal her breasts. Harry lay there, breathing hard at the sight. Harry hadn't really known what to expect, but he was sure that anything he could have imagined wasn't as good as the vision he had right now. Atan'iti tossed her garment to the side and looked down at him, one hand going behind her neck, the other resting on her navel. Then she started to rock on his hips, and Harry thought that she was right. They still had one more thing to do.

Sometime later, Atan'iti took Harry's arm from around her and sat up. "It is time to go back and announce our mating," Atan'iti said. Harry propped himself on an elbow and put a hand on her back, just above her tail. She was looking at the hanging vine wall of the Tree of Whispers. Harry felt like once they walked through the pink veil, they would have to re-enter the real world. "You're worried," Harry said.

"Your relationship with my people…" She shook her head and seemed to revise her thoughts, "You are mated to me, and more than an Avatar, but you are not yet Na'vi. It is unprecedented. You speak our language fluently, but you do not know our ways. You have our body, but yet look so different with the silver." Atan'iti looked down at Harry. Her eyebrows were furrowed, "My father will be lenient on allowing you to learn and become one of the People, as he was once human, but I do not know how he will react knowing we are mated. It will be so sudden to him."

Harry nodded slowly, "I won't pretend to know the ways of the People, but I know what fighters are like. I think that I can win your father's respect."

Atan'iti hugged him, falling on top of him for the second time that day, "Thank you, Harry," she said.

After that, the pair gathered the direhorse that Atan'iti had rode out the night before. She leading it easily without needing to bond, and they began a slow, pleasant trek back to Hometree.

Harry was acutely aware of his new body and, while completely Na'vi, how distinct it was with the silver patterning on his skin. He was ecstatic that he was able to fulfill his commitment to Atan'iti and his role as her mate, but he had serious doubts about his place with the People, and what purpose he would serve. The six-legged direhorse snorted and shook his head, his powerful breath rushing from the esophagus near what was equestrian analogue of a collarbone. Harry found it fascinating that a number of the animals on Pandora breathed from the front of their chest instead of the human and Na'vi way of through the mouth. It was quite the evolutionary advantage, choking from food being physically impossible. The direhorse noticed Harry looking at him and swung his long neck across Atan'iti and nuzzled Harry's arm.

"He likes you!" Atan'iti said with a laugh. She patted the direhorse fondly, rewarding him for his good behavior.

"Well I have at least one soul who likes me," Harry said, "Now we just need to figure out how to convince the rest of the People." Harry reached over and patted the direhorse as well.

Pandora was different in a Na'vi body. It wasn't so dangerous anymore, for one thing. Secondly, the sizes seemed more… _right_. Harry touched the mosses and grasses that grew out of the trees lining their little trail with his fingertips. "Tell me what happened after I died," said Harry.

"I did not know it was possible to feel that much pain," Atan'iti replied. I put a knife in the demon that killed you, and then I went to Hell's Gate for more. I wanted revenge."

"And wanting revenge isn't expected?" Harry asked.

Atan'iti shook her head. "The demons that attacked our friends needed killing, but that was not the only reason I did it. I did it to make them pay for killing you. The People do not kill because they want to. Never."

"I see…" Harry said. He wasn't sure what to say. Revenge was normal for him. There had been many death eaters he had hated. He had taken satisfaction in killing Voldemort because of the pain of losing almost everyone he knew. "When I killed Voldemort, the only reason I did it was for my friends."

Atan'iti looked at Harry, "I am not good at finding lies, Harry."

Harry smiled at her, "I'm not lying. I don't think less of you for doing what you did. It was a fight. You were protecting yourself and your friends."

Atan'iti rushed into Harry's arms. Harry again remembered when she had picked him up on that island near the waterfall on the first day they had met. She had manhandled him like a child and put his chest against her catlike ear. She had been listening for his magic. Now, Atan'iti was half a head shorter than him. Harry pulled her head to his shoulder and wrapped his left arm around her waist. "The things I do sometimes… the things I think… they are not like what the others think."

Harry smiled, putting his cheek on the top of her head. "What you're thinking is normal for humans," he said. "I don't think you should be scared or ashamed of that."

Atan'iti pulled back and took the direhorse by the queue, leading him forward. Harry followed, quietly.

He took her free hand and laced his fingers through hers, and they walked quietly down the path. Harry didn't think they needed to speak. The rest of the journey was spent in silence, for the most part. Harry simply took the time to enjoy the feel of his Na'vi body and the closeness of his new mate.

Hometree was coming up in the distance. They had left the heavily forested area that made up the large distance between Hometree and Hell's gate and now were walking through the same clearing that Harry had carried Atan'iti through when she had broken her ankle. Na'vi mothers and their children lined the clearing, either singing in groups, or gathering various berries and fruits Harry assumed they cultivated. All the Na'vi, mothers and children alike, stopped what they were doing to stare at Harry and Atan'iti—mostly Harry. His silver patterning was flashing and shimmering in the unmolested sunlight that struck the grass below their feet. Harry could hear their whispers, and he was able to understand them. In fact, he wondered if he had been speaking Na'vi to Atan'iti since he had come back. He wasn't sure.

A few brave Na'vi children ran up to Harry and touched his skin, staring at the gleaming patterns with looks of awe and amazement on their faces. Harry was pleased that their curiosity was so open, and that the mothers did not stop their children with a harsh look and sharp words. That would have been the treatment he would have gotten back on Earth if he had a strange human body. Here, there was simplicity and trust. It warmed Harry better than the sunlight that reflected from his body.

"The man who killed you is here," Atan'iti said.

Harry was surprised, "I thought you stabbed him," he said.

"I did," Atan'iti replied. I left him there… to die. But when I came back, he was healed. He said that a voice spoke to him, told him to put a silver stone in your mouth in exchange for healing."

"The All Father saved him," Harry said. He was shocked, but it made sense. The marine was the one responsible for getting that little bit of Unobtainium to tag along with Harry, giving him a new body. "I want to talk to him."

"Why? Atan'iti asked, "He is a demon."

"I just do. I want to see how he acts. Has he said anything to you?"

Atan'iti paused, "I do not like him."

They were closer to Hometree now. Crowds began to appear, all of them staring at Harry. The majority of the Na'vi had never seen Harry in human form before, and the only Na'vi harry had met were ones long used to dealing with humans. The Na'vi here were mostly adults and adolescents, with a good number of hunters among them. While they weren't exactly hostile, there was a definite sense of caution flowing through the quickly gathering crowd that the children did not possess.

"Atan'iti! Who is…" Neytiri had been walking towards them from the inside of Hometree. She stopped when she saw Harry. Her eyes were wide, the large earrings that she wore as the People's spiritual leader swaying slowly. "How is this possible?"

"Eywa has brought him back to me, mother," said Atan'iti. They were still holding hands. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw her glance at him and she took in a sharp breath, "We are mated."

A subdued exclamation ran through the gathered Na'vi, followed by whispers. Harry could hear them speaking in their own tongue, "Who is he?" "Atan'iti has consented to an outsider?" One comment stuck out the most to Harry, and it even made him smile a bit. Whoever had whispered it certainly had a snarky, sarcastic personality, "She _is_ the Olo'eyktan's daughter."

Neytiri looked at Harry with a narrowed gaze, "You continue to… plague me, Harry Potter. At every turn I try to distance you from The People, and every time you step around my attempts. You are dangerous, but now I have no choice. Jake will have the final word on if you stay with us. For now, I wish to speak to you privately, mother to son."

Then Neytiri turned away from them and walked back underneath the huge archway that led into Hometree. Atan'iti quickly followed and pulled Harry along with her. Harry assumed it was a good sign that Atan'iti didn't hesitate, so followed in her wake without protest, trapped by Atan'iti's grip on his fingers.

Neytiri was sitting at the same meeting table Harry had passed when he visited Atan'iti after he accidentally hurt her ankle. Atan'iti sat across from her mother, Harry next to Atan'iti. "Where did you get this body? Was it made by the Sky People? You have the hands and the eyes of my mate." Neytiri asked without preamble.

"No, it wasn't made by the scientists. I made it, kind of."

"You?" Neytiri said, "How?"

"I was killed, and became a part of Eywa for a short while." Harry said, "It was amazing. I could see… everything." He looked at Atan'iti, "I could see you, praying. I heard you. That's why I came back. I had a choice. I could actually have decided to stay as a part of Eywa." Harry smiled and glanced at his mate sitting next to him. She seemed shy as she ducked her head and looked at him with a coy smile, "It would have been a simple choice had I not known you, Atan'iti. But since I had met you, since we were mated, the choice was still simple. The All-Father provided me with the power in the form of Unobtainium, and I shaped the body with my magic."

"Atan'iti told me you had died. You say that you died, and then came back with a new body?" She shook her head. "It is… hard to believe."

Harry just shrugged, "It is magic. My body isn't completely natural… you can see that. Harry offered his silver-banded arm as proof. Your deity seems to have taken a liking to me."

Neytiri shook her head, a harsh scowl on her lips, "You call him the All-Father. At least I have a name for him, now." Neytiri sighed and Harry could see her shoulders drop slightly, "You say that you came back because you wanted to be with my daughter. That is… honorable. It is hard to admit when you are wrong, Harry Potter—especially when it is your responsibility to listen and interpret Eywa's will. I still have more to learn about Her—and Him."

There was silence for a few moments, and Harry thought that there should be a clock ticking. There was no steady tick to break apart the awkward stillness in the meeting area, and the emotions that were laid bare on the small circular stump the Na'vi used as a meeting place. "Thank you," Harry said simply.

"You are willing to help?" Neytiri asked.

"Yes," Harry said, looking at Neytiri. Her large eyes were locked on him. They were wide and looking at him intently. Harry noticed they were significantly larger compared to Atan'iti's. They were more alien, more vicious.

"And you are willing to learn our ways?"

"Yes," Harry said again. "I will learn, but I will always have some humanity in me."

Apparently Atan'iti couldn't contain herself any longer, and she attacked him from the side with her arms, wrapping them around him for an instant, before regaining her composure. Neytiri eyed her daughter disapprovingly, but then she shook her head, "You are lucky, Atan'iti," Neytiri said, "The morning after my mating was filled with betrayal and tears. I would never do the same to my own daughter, and neither will Jake. I know you will not allow Harry to fail and make a mockery of The People, so I am happy for you."

"Thank you, mother," Atan'iti said, her smile wide.

Harry couldn't help but smile as well, "Yes, thank you."

Neytiri nodded, "I understand that it is common for humans to give gifts when celebrating a mating. I do not have a gift, but I imagine you will want your own place to sleep. I will have a new hammock hung in your favorite spot, daughter."

Atan'iti's smile grew wider. She reached across the table and rested her hand on her mother's, "It is better than any gift I could have hoped for."

Neytiri nodded, "I will go and make the preparations for you two." She looked at Harry, "I expect you to learn well, and learn quickly. We will need you."

Neytiri left, and Harry and Atan'iti were left alone. "It is almost time for the evening meal. Do you want to go now? It will be a chance for others to get used to you. Or you could meet my brother. He is much younger, still a child."

"I've seen your brother," Harry said, standing up. "I want to meet the man who killed me first. The All-Father spoke to him, and I want to know exactly what He said."

Atan'iti frowned, but she said, "If you won't change your mind I will go with you." Her tone allowed no argument.

Harry followed her up the spiraling ridge until they took a smaller fork off of the 'staircase' that cut across the center of the Home Tree. There was a forty foot drop to the nearest landing below them, but Harry didn't feel any vertigo. His Na'vi sense of balance and grace wouldn't allow it. They entered a hole in the outer trunk that curved up in a tunnel, just barely tall enough for him to stand upright. They entered small room that looked like a storage room. It was perhaps 10 feet by 10 feet wide, with an archway covered by thick woven branches that face outwards. Harry could see natural light filtering through the woven door. In it, he saw a human dressed in military clothes, squatting down over a low ledge and looking out a window into the jungles of Pandora, far below them.

"Demon!" Atan'iti said to him loudly. "Harry has come to speak with you."

The man immediately fumbled with the hay-like material that covered the floor of his cell and Harry saw the red flash of a very familiar object. Harry knew that it was his wand immediately. It wasn't so much the sight itself, but rather the feeling that appeared in his stomach at the sight. For a wizard, it was unmistakable. It was all over in under a second. The marine turned quickly and stood up.

"Harry?"

"The Thanator you killed," Harry said. "That was me."

"You?" the marine said. He stepped forward a bit, but stopped two arms lengths away from the woven door. Then he shook his head, "So is this the part where you throw me out the window, then? I don't know what you're playing at, but just yesterday you were sure Harry was dead."

"What exactly did the All-Father say to you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the marine said.

"I think you do," Harry replied. "You landed on a piece of silvery metal, didn't you? You were touching it when He spoke to you."

The marine looked at him, not saying anything.

"Well, anyways, I have a few questions for you," Harry continued. "Atan'iti told me what you said. She said that you were healed in return for putting that silver stone in the mouth of the Thanator."

"I said that."

"Why did you do it?" Harry asked. "You could have gotten up and walked away."

The man was silent again, his hands behind his back and his shoulders squared firmly. It was a military stance. The man was formidable, and Harry almost felt as if he was being judged. It was altogether rather out of place, being that the man was behind bars, but Harry allowed him his illusions as the silence stretched on.

Then he spoke. "My daughters have dolls that they go to bed with every night. Well, Stephanie, my oldest, may no longer use it, but when I left, Stephanie and Roxy both demanded I tuck in their dolls with them. They were Na'vi dolls. After the RDA got expelled the first time, there was something of a grassroots campaign among the population. When I left, they thought I was coming here to help the Na'vi." The marine shook his head, "I'm not an evil man. Whatever that voice was, it said I would save someone or something named Harry. Why would I not spare something, just out of spite?"

Harry nodded. "I can understand that."

The marine continued, "I want to help. I want to help everyone come to an agreement. We can mine the Unobtainium in an unobtrusive way and we can leave you be. We can provide education or materials if you want, or we can simply leave you alone."

"That won't work," Harry said. "The mining can't continue."

The man shook his head. He didn't like Harry's answer. "Fine," he said, "I'll still help."

"You lie," Atan'iti hissed.

"No! I'm not lying," the marine said.

"Why would you help us?" Harry asked.

"Because my daughters love the Na'vi! If the mining is unacceptable to the Na'vi then I don't think I can be a part of it. I don't think I would be able to come home proud of what I'd accomplished."

Harry was beginning to believe the man was sincere. He had been approached by the All-Father, and he had followed through with the bargain. "Maybe…" Harry said. "When you killed me I lost something. It was a small red stick with a handle on it. Did you see it?"

The man went silent again. If possible, his posture became stiffer. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Atan'iti. She was looking at him with an expression of confusion on her face. She probably hadn't caught the flash of red. It was quite possible that Harry hadn't actually seen it, after all. It could have been more of a vision given to him by his proximity to his wand. It was made from his blood, after all, and blood magic was strong and ancient.

Then the man let out a breath and his hands made an appearance from their clasped position behind his back. "I can do better than tell you where it is. I have it with me." He walked over to a pile of the hay on the ground and kicked it away, revealing Harry's wand. He picked it up by the tip, walked over to the woven door, and handed it to him through one of the larger slots, handle first. Harry took it and immediately felt power rush into him through his arm. He still had his magic! If anything, it seemed stronger. He wondered if it was from the Unobtainium. Unobtainium was the power of Pandora, just as magic was the power of Earth. Now that it was a part of him in addition to the magic in his blood, it made sense. Harry smiled down as he looked at the lovingly shaped branch of Hometree in his hand, and he felt complete. He had a new body, a new mate, and finally, his wand. A sense of peace and comfort washed over him.

"Thank you," Harry said to the marine.

The marine just nodded, "Will you speak to Jake on my behalf?"

Harry looked down at his wand, then back at the marine. He didn't want to do this. "I might, but it depends on one more thing."

"And what is that?" the marine asked.

Harry just shook his head, looking down at his wand. Then he looked over to Atan'iti and exhaled a sigh through his nose. She was looking back at him curiously, and her expression changed into one of concern. Harry wondered what she could see in his face. He turned away from his mate, and looked back at the marine. "I'm sorry."

"Wha-"

"_Legilimens_!"


End file.
